In Part 1A “Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely – The Marten Mindset” we will discover that:

Absolute Certainty + Absolute Inexperience + Absolute Power =

Absolute Administrative Disaster

We will show how the Absolute Power provided by the San Diego Unified Board of Education to an ill equipped and inexperienced Superintendent Cindy Marten with her calcified, inaccurate positions and opinions has eliminated any possibility of true San Diego Unified School District Stakeholder advisory collaboration and shared decision making for OUR kids…for OUR students.

We anticipate that this ‘exposure” will show our readers the gravity of the situation and will help launch the “SDUSD Stakeholder Vote” movement

In the Introduction (http://wp.me/p4LD0L-ig), we provided some background information that illustrated how virtually every supposed San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) “outreach” to get SDUSD stakeholder feedback was just an orchestrated Fauxllaboration (http://wp.me/p4LD0L-bN ).

First, let’s delve into Part 1A – The Marten Mindset.

Part 1A: The Marten Mindset – Absolute Certainty with Absolute Inexperience

In an article in the La Mesa/Mt Helix Patch (http://patch.com/california/lamesa/cindy-marten-calls-herself-a-9-11-soldier-defending-pb38fc673df) Marten apparently described herself as “a 9-11 warrior for education” and said “Some people after Sept. 11 signed up to fight one kind of war, she said, and “I signed up for a different war.”

First of all, ANYONE who could DECLARE WAR on NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND (NCLB) – A groundbreaking education bill that pushed HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS into the SDUSD’s poorest schools to a war against  terrorists that murdered thousands of innocent civilians is not using the best of judgment.

District Deeds has refused to use comparisons of horrific events in history (like ISIS or the Holocaust, or Nazi Germany or the My Lai Massacre) to events or decisions in the SDUSD.

We had friends and relatives deeply affected by 9/11 and use of it to further an unrelated situation is completely inappropriate in our opinion.

But we are willing to give Marten the benefit of the doubt…she was not even a Principal on September 11, 2001.  Having an undeveloped opinion with her level of experience at the time can be excused to a certain degree.

Unfortunately, Marten proudly doubled down on that infamous opinion in the Patch on APRIL 4, 2013… AFTER she was appointed Superintendent with barely 4 years of Elementary Principal Experience and NO COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION!

Marten  neglected to mention that at Central Elementary during her tenure as teacher and administrator , her school was the beneficiary of nearly A MILLION DOLLARS from the NCLB legislation…money that she gladly spent on programs at Central to help children and burnish her reputation which ultimately enabled her to ascend to Superintendent over many other more qualified candidates.

Basically, Cindy Marten without NCLB would NOT be SDUSD Superintendent!

MARTEN OWES HER POSITION TO NCLB!

The Marten quote: “NCLB, she said, lulled the nation into believing that the product of public education is a test score.”  erroneously negates ALL the other benefits of NCLB.

When Marten declared war on NCLB, she:

Declared War on School Site Councils (SSC) at every school where EVERY STAKEHOLDER has a voice

Declared War on District Advisory Committees (DAC) – where every SCHOOL has a voice

Declared War on the English Learner Advisory Committees (DELAC & ELAC) – where the ELL Stakeholders have a voice

 Declared War on Free and Reduced Lunch for hungry children from poor families

Declared War on the Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) at each school where EVERY SIGNIFICANT DEMOGRAPHIC GROUP gets targeted educational programs to help them achieve.

Declared War on Special Education – where many of the initiatives contained in the NCLB provided funding and protected the rights of special needs children.

Declared War on hundreds of millions of NCLB dollars to support the poorest and most needy children in the SDUSD.

With Martens’ declared “resistance” against NCLB countered by facts that show she actually completely embraced the policy by gladly spending NCLB money at Central Elementary AND turning that effort into an undeserved promotion, we are left to wonder:

WHERE IS THE MORAL CENTER OF CINDY MARTEN?

Is Marten really a crusader for Public Education…for the benefit of all students or just a crusader for a self serving, distorted Cindy Marten version of Public Education that is ineptly being administered by the inexperienced, Elementary Principal Superintendent?

We believe that obvious level of ineptness requires Stakeholder Citizenship and Shared Sovereignity by initiating the SDUSD Stakeholder Voting Rights…for the protection of ALL our students.

As they say, “Actions speak louder than words”

To expand on that notion, in part 1B we will match the Marten mindset to some of her recent blunders and cover ups, both intentional and unintentional and show how, with a Stakeholder Vote, the Stakeholder community would be FULLY engaged AND educated in the decisions and how many of the blunders costing thousands of dollars could have been avoided.

Next:  Part 1B Marten Blunders Speak Louder Than Words

NOTE: Click on the “follow” at the top margin of this blog post so that you can get the updates as soon as they are available.  Also please feel free to re-tweet and post on Facebook.