The New Mexico Public Education Department has given Española School District Superintendent Eric Martinez a month to address several points of concern outlined in a Nov. 17 letter, or have his license suspended.
State Education Secretary Hanna Skandera sent Martinez a letter, which he received Monday, informing him that he has 30 days to deal with the student safety, human resources, fiscal, communication and open government issues that has attracted scrutiny of not only the Department, but other state agencies.
Skandera’s “Notice of Failure to Meet Requirements of Laws, Rules or Standards,” dated Feb. 2, admonishes Martinez for failing to address the issues or comply with the requirements Deputy Secretary Paul Aguilar outlined in the Nov. 17 letter of concern.
Aguilar gave Martinez 30 days to draft a corrective action plan that would ensure students are safe and free of intimidation, after receiving several complaints from parents and members of the community about basketball coach Richard Martinez’s behavior.
The earlier letter also asked Eric Martinez to explain why he decided to shuffle several principals around a few weeks into the first semester, why he didn’t notify parents that the District didn’t have qualified professionals teaching core classes and why he didn’t provide better oversight of the District’s finances.
Instead of corrections, Martinez drafted a two-page letter refuting the claims Aguilar raised.
“In a Letter of Concern dated November 17, 2016, the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) informed Mr. Eric V. Martinez (superintendent) of a number of concerns regarding his conduct as superintendent and directed him to develop a corrective action plan detailing how he intends to address each of the concerns raised,” the letter states. “Instead of submitting a corrective action plan, the superintendent chose to submit a letter of rebuttal, which did not comply with the requirements set forth in the Letter of Concern.”
There appears to be no difference between the Nov. 17 and Feb. 2 letters. Department Public Information Officer Robert McEntyre said the first letter was a request, whereas this letter is a demand.
“The latest letter demands a plan of action to address these concerns or the superintendent will be suspended,” McEntyre wrote in a Tuesday email. “This letter is a notice of suspension unless the items we outlined are addressed.”
The superintendent’s responsibilities
Aguilar said in a telephone interview, Monday, that his Department routinely fields and investigates complaints lodged against administrators in any one of the state’s 89 school districts, but seldom has to intervene at this level.
“We receive complaints often for administrators around the state,” he said. “But we very seldom have to deal with a superintendent who isn’t doing their job. They are charged with running the District and that includes keeping students safe and paying the bills, and if that doesn’t happen, it gets very serious.”
The Department also, once again, admonished Eric Martinez for the District’s past and current poor financial record-keeping, which precedes his tenure. A couple of hours before he received the first letter, Department officials, citing poor record-keeping, stripped the School Board of their financial authority.
Board President Pablo Lujan and outgoing Vice President Lucas Fresquez have criticized the takeover and wanted to know why the Department didn’t step in earlier to correct the issues, going back as far as 2011.
“We didn’t have any indication things were going bad in the schools,” Lujan said. “About April (2016) it came to our attention through our school budget folks, that the District wasn’t going to be on time submitting a budget. Then our folks dug deeper and deeper and found the District had been submitting documents indicating their financial status but had not reconciled with their bank statements, going back until 2011.”
Rebuttal letter
Aguilar said Eric Martinez missed the mark, in his Dec. 21 rebuttal letter, and didn’t provide plausible explanations for his decision.
For example, Aguilar said even though the superintendent has the authority to reassign principals mid-semester, he should have had good reason to take such disruptive action. But according to Aguilar, the reason Eric Martinez gave didn’t make sense.
“The excuse that he gave was, ‘Well, I have one principal that I was having trouble disciplining,’” he said. “You don’t move principals around because you can’t discipline them. You show some leadership. You do what you need to do to make sure teaching goes on and students are learning.”
Aguilar said while teachers are probably the most important component in a student’s education, having stable leadership is also important because it sets the instructional tone. The shuffle can also impact the teachers who rely on a principal for observations as part of their annual evaluations.
Skandera and Aguilar also criticized Eric Martinez for terminating the security contract the District had with former Española School Board member and city councilor, Elias Coriz’s company, ProSec, because presumably, it places children at risk.
When the District officials terminated the security contract, they hired an in-house security team, which translated into four fewer officers patrolling the high school.
Lujan has maintained that the reduction of force kept the District in compliance with the security standards set by the New Mexico Public Insurance Authority.
Aguilar said although the District’s current security measures don’t violate any state rules or policies, best practices would involve a more robust security force.
“It is not against the law,” he said. “But it puts kids in bad situations and you should never be putting kids in bad situations or in contact with adults that make them feel unsafe.”
Aguilar is referring to a situation where the current basketball coach, Eric Martinez, and assistant coach Ernest Salazar, allegedly told students that their parents were “cowards and liars” for giving statements to investigators about Richard Martinez’s on-the-job conduct.
Unlike the original November letter, the Monday letter demands that District officials turn over the documents at the center of a lawsuit the state’s Attorney General’s Office filed, Jan. 13.
The suit seeks the expedited release of emails from a March 2016 Inspection of Public Records Request Act submitted to the District seeking communication between several Board members and several contractors.
Politically motivated
Lujan once again has criticized the Department for what he claims is politically motivated targeting.
Specifically, he questions why it took so long for the Department to respond to Martinez’s letter, which he submitted some time on, or around, Dec. 17.
“What the Public Education Department has done is 100 percent politically motivated,” he said. “They are trying to control who is going to be on the Board and who is going to be superintendent.”
However, McEntyre said despite Lujan’s suspicions, the Department is acting in the best interest of the District’s students.
“We are taking action because it is in the best interest of the kids,” McEntyre said. “The Board and superintendent have led this District to crisis, and we’re trying to help this District renew the focus on kids and learning.”
Superintendent Eric Martinez didn’t respond to calls and text messages seeking comment.
If the superintendent chooses to ignore the ultimatum, or submits an unsatisfactory action plan, Department officials will consult the state’s Public Education Commission before initiating proceedings to suspend his administrator’s license.