Conflict of interest? Clearly.
Española School District superintendent David Cockerham can dance around his relationship with Jeff Baskin and his company Professional and Educational Resources all day long but at the end of the day, Cockerham has been aiding Baskin’s company immensely by hiring teachers through Baskin for many years, here and at Zuni School District.
Cockerham is working with Baskin to form their own company to do the same thing. That sounds like a reorganization of the same company Baskin now heads. Why would the two form a new company to do the same thing the old company does?
Cockerham has given Baskin $10,000 to do help form this “new” company.
Cockerham e-mails Baskin routinely from our computer in the school district office.
Cockerham sent Baskin tickets for a Colorado Rockies game.
Cockerham was invited to stay at Baskin’s Denver home while meeting with the accountant working on their “new” company.
That’s very cozy and very unprofessional. It’s probably not illegal. And that’s where the beauty of Cockerham’s plan comes into play.
Cockerham is not receiving any money…directly…right now. The school District isn’t either. The immigrants pay Baskin.
On paper it’s a good deal for the school District and that’s one of Cockerham’s arguments. We’re getting qualified licensed teachers, something we have a tough time finding in the Valley. His argument would be much stronger if he didn’t have a very close relationship with Baskin.
A coyote leads Mexicans across the border illegally and gets paid upwards of $5,000, maybe more. Cockerham’s buddy Jeff Baskin charges Filipino teachers about $7,000 just to find them a job in our Valley. They have to pay to get themselves here.
It all comes down to does David Cockerham profit from this arrangement and the answer is no, not now. But he will down the road. He is helping Baskin make money by hiring the teachers Baskin brings across the Pacific. That’s making Baskin’s company stronger, more profitable. By all indications one day that strong profitable company will be partly Cockerham’s.
He can try to sell us the notion they’re setting up a new company but really, is anyone buying that? And if he really is doing that, he’s a terrible businessman and an even worse investor. And that’s not illegal either.
This scenarios is exaclty what it appears to be. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.