Simonich got it right on Skandera, not on García
Iwant to thank Milan Simonich for some of what he wrote in his Ringside Seat piece (“Skandera, snow day both all wet,” April 3). He hit the nail on the head about Secretary Hanna Skandera being outrageously ill-equipped to know what is best for students.
When she and the governor decimated the Public Education Department five years ago by firing many committed former educators only to surround themselves with preschoolers who had never been in schools in any kind of professional capacity, they made very clear who they really cared about — themselves — and their journey into the worlds of even higher-paid, albeit more clueless politicians. Her position echoes the frightening appointment of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Having worked in all parts of education, as a teacher and, honestly, for Skandera at the PED, I will tell you that, in my opinion, she fails. Personally, I rarely saw the woman. While the building is a mere three stories and her staff does not likely exceed 200, she made no effort to get to know any of us. Had she been a principal at one point in her life, she might have known that this is no way to lead people.
With that said, let’s apply some of the basic educational standards to Skandera that we apply to our students. In order to get into fourth grade, you have to have done well in kindergarten through third, In order to take an honors English class or an Advanced Placement class, you have to have shown some sort of aptitude in your English classes prior. Should we not have similar prerequisites for the leaders in education? We would never want someone who had not been to medical school or not even stepped foot in an operating room to perform brain surgery on our child.
Skandera, as Simonich mentions, knows nothing about what schools are like save what she may have read in a book or what she gleaned from her grandstanding appearances to a few of our schools every year. More importantly, don’t we ask our students to show up when they are to present what they have learned? How many times did the schools feel her absence during the Legislature? Isn’t that her job, to be present to answer questions and to support students? She should have been on the front lines during the Legislature, where funding for public education was on the line. Many of my personal friends in education said that Secretary Skandera never showed during some of the most important sessions.
On that note, I will say that I do not agree with Simonich’s criticism of Santa Fe school Superintendent Veronica García’s decision to motivate the community and students to stand up for the funding of public education in New Mexico. Rationally, wouldn’t most folks agree that García’s 40 years of experience in education make us all feel a little more secure with her decisions and actions? More importantly, have we not learned, all too well this year, that political inaction is detrimental, if not dangerous to our very livelihood and planet?
It is time that we stop sitting idly by while the so-called leaders around us fail to represent our interests, and where better to make that change than with children, our future? Teaching our students of New Mexico about the importance of political activism is an invaluable lesson. Given that New Mexico still ranks 49th in child wellbeing, it is essential that somebody impel more people to fight in order to see results — goodness knows that we can’t depend on Skandera or her boss to do it.