Navarro’s Ridiculous Fourth Annuity; Rude Vickie S. and the Hero

Fred Navarro Superintendent of Nmusd cannot look anyone in the eye. There he is, the proud leader of 22,000 students, lurking behind his computer; not brave enough to look at citizens who are courageous enough to talk before a board of education which has become increasingly hostile.

The issue was the Nmusd Board of Education giving Fred Navarro the 4th Annuity in four years. This particular annuity was almost $30,000 added onto his salary which is already something in excess of $300,000.

My math skills are horrible and I can’t even explain them away by having had Swun Math, but in my crude computation, I think we are giving this pathetic superintendent around a million dollars that he can collect in ten years or so….maybe more and maybe sooner.

But why can’t he look people in the eye? What is he ashamed of? Perhaps the mistakes…

Just so you know who the hero is in this story, it’s Erica. Erica Roberts is one of those people who are at their core “believers” They believe in the goodness of mankind, the essential honesty of people, and are stunned when confronted with hidden agendas, dishonesty, outright lies, and people who are in positions where their job is to take care of children and show themselves to be secretive, greedy and dishonest.

Erica started with trying to change the math program a few years ago. The district had purchased Swun Math for four years to the tune of over $4,000,000. It was a math program that was so bad, teachers were actually paid for fixing its many mistakes. Everyone complained about it …to absolutely no avail. None. It continues to be one of the world's greatest mysteries.

This is actually the moment when the community became aware that the Board of Education really didn’t care.

Erica Roberts along with other brave souls went before the board over and over trying to get the district to drop this stupid mistake. She met with trustees, the superintendent, the staff a couple of million times and finally…finally it was dropped ever so slowly from the unexplained clutches of Navarro and the district thanks to our hero …Erica

Nancy Drew has nothing on Erica. She can find conflicting language in places where no one knows it exists. She is the perennial “dog with the bone” She finds one lie, one error, which inevitably leads to another lie, another huge mistake, another fake something, and God Bless her, she continues to be stunned. She cannot believe that these people do not want the best for kids, just as she does.

Tonight, politely as always, she tried to tell them…she gave it her best for her kids and everyone else’s, and he wouldn’t look at her…not once.

This is the man who has been graded as a “C” in an “A+” district by being rated “Proficient” this year, and has been given time after time huge raises and annuities, and now receiving $29,812.50 with a "proficient" grade who isn’t brave enough to look at Erica; the woman who just wants the truth.

In addition to Fred Navarro “The Hider”, we have to be treated with the anger and outrage of Vickie Snell, who thankfully will be out of the President of the Board job soon. Vickie in her tenure has managed to anger and offend almost everyone except the most avid PTA people…and maybe even them.

Vickie seems to not understand the basic tenants of human behavior in that she almost never….actually never …is able to muster up something called empathy. She becomes the teacher who everyone hates who is shrill and mean. She actually has shaken her finger at people. I have personally seen and heard it. When she feels that “her board and her superintendent” is being criticized, instead of taking a breath and considering the merits of what has been said, she simply puts on that mean accusatory teacher act (although she was never a teacher), and is incredibly rude.

She was rude, and not for the first time, to Erica who I might remind you is just trying to do her best for kids.

I’ve got to say it’s weird to see and hear Vickie raising her voice to Erica and the large guard with a large gun strapped to his leg, rise from his chair apparently ready to do something…what I don’t know.

Yep, this is my report from last night’s Board of Education Meeting except for one last thing. It was quite a meeting. They passed Navarro's Annuity 5-0

Judy Franco, who is retiring from a board, in which she has served for 38 years, was in the hospital and couldn’t attend the meeting where she was given an award. If there was ever an offhand, casual, uncaring way to give an award…these people found it.

Judy deserved more…

Erica deserved more…

Fred didn’t ….