Matthew Barnebey

In his interview, Celso Martinez decreed it doesn't matter where he or other top DISD executives live because it does not impact:	1)	student achievement
	2)	teacher performance
	3)	financial management
	4)	facility improvement or
	5)	school safety.

I disagree with Celso's doctrine for the following reasons: As Sarah Dodd points out, he is not a DISD or Dallas County taxpayer. His son is not a student in the district. More importantly, he doesn't have a vote in city or county elections, so other Dallas elected officials may not take his professional efforts as seriously as they might do were he a Dallas resident.

If the DISD board and superintendent allow Mr. Martinez to live wherever he wants, it will send a message to other top DISD executives that they have permission to become more disengaged in district affairs. Nothing would stop any top DISD executive from going to any suburb or exhurb that they wish in North Texas. If this happens, school board members would be the only people in DISD's leadership with a direct stake in DISD's affairs. This may at least encourage current and future board members to increase micromanaging affairs on individual school campuses involving teachers, parents and students - disputes that should be best resolved by principals and/or area superintendents. 2/13 Gehrig Saldana:
We are very fortunate to have U.S. Naval Officer Matthew Barnebey SK3 serving our country. He gets it. This man has more integrity on his fingernail than most probably Celso has on his entire body. May god bless you and your family and wish you a safe and speedy return home.

This happened before in the 1990's during the dark days of the Supt. Gonzalez/Matthew Harden scandals. My dad told me, in his early days as an assistant principal at Fannin in 1995-1999, then-District 8 trustee Kathleen Leos on several occasions was on campus giving him direct orders. It was not uncommon for board meetings to be up to 30 minutes late and last for maybe at least three hours. Sometimes, 15 or 20 school security guards would be standing in the back to keep hecklers, like those New Black Panthers led by Commissioner Price and Aaron Micheals, from being physical. We can't have that happen again.

Who knows how many children were affected by that? Some of us were very fortunate to be in honors and magnet programs district wide like myself, but others who didn't have as many resources were certainly negatively impact. Hence, the high dropout rate in DISD. A 2000 DMN article said most recent DISD graduates at that time didn't attend a four-year university.

Dr. Flores likes to compare the Celso's fit regarding his residency requirement to someone speeding on LBJ and suggests you couldn't enforce Mr. Martinez's residency provision because not all speeders on LBJ are caught. This isn't the same thing - one act is a minor violation of the law, the other is a very clear-cut, gross violation of a contract that is occurring daily. What message is this going to send to DISD taxpayers and DISD employees in general? That different standards of conduct applies to senior executives? That board members do not expect the highest standards of conduct and professionalism from their top leaders?

Finally, as an active duty service member, a Navy petty officer, I admit to being most disgusted by Celso Martinez' comment to Sarah Dodd that "people fought and died for my right and your right to live wherever we want." I don't know if he ever served in the military, but I'd like to let him know that we have to serve in whatever place we are needed.

Martinez has it easy. He can see his family in any season during the year. I only spent 12 days in Dallas -in Texas - in the whole U.S.A. for that manner during the 16-day leave I took for all of last year. Other than a bona fide serous family emergency, I must wait until June (the end of my overseas tour here in Japan) to go back home.