In the news recently, was the Pot Sniffing Dogs controversy.  A few local media outlets announced the concern of parents over the purchase of a “Pot Sniffing Dog” and the use of that dog at various schools around the San Diego Unified School District.

Here are some links to the story:

Channel 7 San Diego:  http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Drug-Dog-Narcotics-School-Search-San-Diego-Unified-Parents-Upset-278399881.html

Channel 8 San Diego: http://www.cbs8.com/story/26719878/drug-sniffing-dogs-at-local-schools-raise-concerns

San Diego Union Tribune: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/oct/06/san-diego-high-drug-sniffing-dog/

As is the case of many of the blunders Elementary School Superintendent Marten stumbles into because of her total lack of credentials and experience, it was rolled out as a dictatorial command with virtually no advance notice, planning or community involvement beforehand….like the removal of ELST’s…Like the MRAP…Like the removal of high achieving Principals…like pretty much everything except District Sanctioned Propaganda about 2020 Vision and the seriously flawed Common Core.

So, again, like she did to Principals with the removal of ELST’s (https://districtdeeds.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/trust-us-or-how-the-sdusd-senior-leadership-team-turns-professional-educators-into-used-car-salespersons/)   and what she did with the MRAP with the Board of Education (https://districtdeeds.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/marten-continues-to-steer-the-sdusd-down-the-road-to-disaster/), she made an ignorant decision and left it up to others to try and sell it…just like a Used Car Salesman selling a clunker to an unsuspecting customer.

The people victimized this time were Board Member Richard Barrera, all the Principals, all the school site personnel (Teachers, staff, custodians), the SDUSD Police Department and EVERY INNOCENT STUDENT IN EVERY SCHOOL THAT WAS “SNIFFED” BY THE DOG.

In the Channel 7 San Diego Coverage, the person responsible for this blunder was identified:

“District Trustee Richard Barrera, who attended the meeting, said it was the superintendent’s decision to purchase Blitz on the recommendation of the district’s principals.”

In other words – Elementary School Superintendent Marten!

Another Day, Another Marten Tone Deaf Blunder.

Typical of Martens’ total lack of executive credentials, there is no:

• Community Collaboration on the scope of the program
• Rollout Plan
• Definitive deployment policy that has been legally vetted
• Parameters of searches
• Appeal procedures

And many, many more questions that savvy and concerned SDUSD Stakeholders posed like:

“Is there any data that says having dogs on campus improves the safety perception of Students?”

Another interesting point, also in the Channel 7 report is that NO ONE in the SDUSD knows the exact “Pot Sniffing Dogs” internal policy…DESPITE ALREADY IMPLEMENTING IT FOR A MONTH…including the Principals who are implementing it and Trustee Richard Barrera (and his fellow Board Members)!

“San Diego High Principal of International Studies Carmen Garcia’s explanation of the process conflicted with the current district drug search policy.”

So the principals are managing a task assigned to them by Elementary School Superintendent Marten that could VIOLATE CIVIL RIGHTS AND PUT A STUDENT IN PRISON without knowing or even having a definitive District drug search policy related to searches by dogs and …

“There is no outside oversight of the program the only people who will know when and how the dog is used are the principals and police.”

So Marten…and the Board of Education…and the Area Superintendents…and the Parents…and the Teachers…and the Counselors…and the Site Staff…will be kept completely in the dark until the criminal search event actually happens and a student is arrested.

WOW!

So now Barrera, newly promoted to “Used Car Salesman” by Marten was stuck trying to sell this clunker that could put INNOCENT SDUSD Students in Prison.

His reaction?

“Barrera suggested a task force be created including educators, police, parents and students to get involved in the policy.”

Really?

So, AFTER you have had your Superintendent implement a policy without your knowledge that not only continues the militarization perception of Stakeholders, with ZERO community collaboration, and could put an innocent student in jail and put Principals and your Police Force in legal jeopardy, you NOW want to create a fauxllaboration “Task Force” to “get involved in the policy?!?

Here is the District Deeds “suggestion”:

Your first “step” should be to either strongly, publicly reprimand Marten for putting you, the Principals and the SDUSD Police in the position of potentially arresting and jailing innocent teenage students, or just fire Marten for poor performance based on the multiple blunders (MRAP, ELST’s removal, LaJolla Parade) and lies (the $5,000 Scholarship, reassignment cover ups) she has stumbled into over the last 4 months.

Your second step would be, if she is not fired, that she should be required to fire every member of her inner circle who was involved with this debacle and bring back Bill Kowba or another highly credentialed former Superintendent as a mentor to train Marten on how to do the job for the next 3 years.

In closing–I would actually feel a little sorry for Barrera but maybe this will be an enlightenment for him.

He has had the chance to actually FEEL what it is like to defend an indefensible, poorly thought out blunder by the Elementary School Principal he voted to put in charge of the 2^nd largest school district in California.

It must be a familiar feeling since he and the rest of the BOE were also blindsided by Marten with the MRAP.

If he has this enlightenment , we can only hope he follows the revised adage of many bosses worldwide…a very simple solution to ALL our problems…

Fool me once,  shame on you…fool me twice, MARTEN YOU’RE FIRED!