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This week in District Deeds Sunday Reads we are getting into the political season by analyzing the San Diego Union Tribune Editorial Board (SDUTEB) endorsement of State Superintendent of Education Tony Thurmond.

Yes, the same Tony Thurmond that created a toxic environment in the CDE over the last 4 years and endorsed a candidate for federal offiice that said “It depends” whether forced oral copulation between Kindergarteners is a “serious incident”.

We have featured the complete SDUTEB endorsement today in Sunday Reads with our synopsis and analysis.  We strongly urge our readers to click on the title and other links (in red) to read the full endorsement for themselves

Endorsement: AWOL Tony Thurmond Still Better as California Schools Chief Than His Culture Warrior Opponent

We don’t need more culture wars.

BY THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL BOARD

The editorial board operates independently from the U-T newsroom but holds itself to similar ethical standards. We base our editorials and endorsements on reporting, interviews and rigorous debate, and strive for accuracy, fairness and civility in our section. Disagree? Let us know.

In June, CalMatters described Democratic state Superintendent of Public Education Tony Thurmond as displaying “a toxic management style, questionable hiring practices and a general lack of leadership.” He then advanced from a crowded field to a Nov. 8 runoff election with 2.1 million more votes than his closest challenger.

As the nominal leader of a public school system with nearly 6 million students, he has certainly had a low profile since taking office in 2019. During the pandemic, he saw his role as providing related supplies, not trying to figure out how to limit learning loss or to use best practices from other states.

As a candidate in 2018, Thurmond promised The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board he would look into the evidence that school districts were diverting dedicated funds meant to help struggling students to employee raises. He never followed through, and this month his campaign absurdly claimed he couldn’t provide information on this question because that would require state employees to help with campaign activity.

California voters should also expect him to be AWOL in a second term — even as the state keeps struggling with student learning loss, plummeting enrollment and a teacher shortage. But his absence would be better than his opponent’s activism. In interviews, Republican education policy executive Lance Christensen’s promise to center parents in decision-making resonated with us, but his casual criticism of ethnic studies — at a time when hate crimes are soaring statewide — gave us pause in the primary and seems disqualifying now after he told us that schools should not focus on “complex issues of race and sexuality that confound most of the adults in our country.” Maybe they won’t confound so many if as students they learn greater respect for and understanding of others in public schools.

We don’t need more culture wars. The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board endorses Tony Thurmond for superintendent of public education.

DISTRICT DEEDS SYNOPSIS AND ANALYSIS:

As recently as our District Deeds Sunday Reads post from January 30, 2022 titled “San Diego Union Tribune Editorial Board Question: How do ANY SDUSD Stakeholders know that the best finalists were chosen?” we strongly supported the following SDUTEB position from an editorial published on January 27, 2022:

“Now the district plans to have just one 90-minute forum on Feb. 26 at Wilson Middle School.

This is a terrible decision that needs to be reversed. At least three forums of at least two hours each should be held. To address pandemic health risks, they can be remote meetings if necessary.”

In our January 30, 2022 post we took a strong supportive position:

As a final message to the SDUTEB:

DON’T GIVE UP NOW!

We look forward to you supporting full SDUSD honesty and transparency in the items listed above and FULL followup to hold the SDUSD accountable in an open selection process that includes ALL SDUSD Stakeholders!

The SDUTEB was right but the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) did not listen and now we have an empty suit, incompetent and corrupt SDUSD Superintendent in power.

Unfortunately, nine months later,  it looks like the SDUTEB has regressed.

The SDUTEB has now endorsed an empty suit, incompetent and corrupt AWOL Tony Thurmond for re-election.

The SDUTEB endorsement of AWOL Tony strongly disappoints us and must surely disappoint  many SDUT subscribers and SDUSD Stakeholders based on the facts presented.

Here are 3 damning, disqualifying facts from the SDUTEB Editorial about State Superintendent of Education Tony “AWOL” Thurmond:

#1 Fact: 

Tony “AWOL” Thurmond is guilty of “Dereliction of Duty“.

Editorial Evidence:

During the pandemic, he saw his role as providing related supplies, not trying to figure out how to limit learning loss or to use best practices from other states.

District Deeds Translation:

At a time when the “nearly 6 million students”, hundreds of thousands of Families and hundreds of thousands of Public Education employees were struggling and begging for strong State and District instructional leadership to maintain learning levels, “AWOL” Tony assumed the role of TOXIC “Chief Supply Clerk”.

#2 Fact: 

Tony “AWOL” Thurmond is a liar.

Editorial Evidence:

As a candidate in 2018, Thurmond promised The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board he would look into the evidence that school districts were diverting dedicated funds meant to help struggling students to employee raises. He never followed through…

District Deeds transation:  If you make a promise and then go out of your way to prevent the promise from happening, YOU ARE A LIAR.

Tony “AWOL” Thurmond is a proven Liar.

Period.

#3 Fact

Tony “AWOL” Thurmond’s lack of action and lies DISQUALIFY him for any elected office.

Editorial Evidence:

California voters should also expect him to be AWOL in a second term — even as the state keeps struggling with student learning loss, plummeting enrollment and a teacher shortage.

District Deeds translation:

According to the SDUTEB, if he is elected for a second term, Tony Thurmond will continue to be AWOL (lie and perform a dereliction of duty) and worsen “student learning loss, plummeting enrollment and a teacher shortage” thereby continuing to destroy the education of ALL State of California Students with the full backing of an overwhelming Democrat majority at the Federal, State, City and School District level.

But somehow the other candidate, Lance Christianson, has disqualified himself for an endorsement because, according to the SDUTEB:

“he told us that schools should not focus on “complex issues of race and sexuality that confound most of the adults in our country.”  Maybe they won’t confound so many if as students they learn greater respect for and understanding of others in public schools.

We don’t need more culture wars.

So highlighting the out of context phrase  “complex issues of race and sexuality that confound most of the adults in our country.” means candidate Christianson is starting a Culture War by opposing the individuals who actually INTRODUCED the Culture War topics of “complex issues of race and sexuality”. 

Using that logic, by fighting back, the United States was responsible for Pearl Harbor.

It wasn’t Christianson that introduced and championed volatile “complex issues of race and sexuality’ into California Public Schools.

No, he just responded to it in this political campaign.  The exchange of ideas and political positions is NOT “Culture Wars”, it is DEMOCRACY in action!  And how far can this “Culture War” expand when, if elected, he is opposed by the same powerful overwhelming Democrat majority at the Federal, State, City and School District level that currently backs AWOL Thurmond and crushes any and all political opposition both within and outside the Democratic Party?

It was AWOL Thurmond who, along with his Democrat majority State Legislature and State Board of Education, pressed those “Culture War” issues DURING COVID to distract the public from Thurmonds’ AWOL behavior and the horrible educational performance it produced in California public schools prior to and during Covid without any meaningful Parent and Community collaboration.

But, for some reason, the SDUTEB chose selective editing to take the disqualifying “confound” quote out of context to vilify Christianson.  Here is the FULL quote according to the very same “he told us” interview text:

“Currently, eighth-graders are doing math at a fifth-grade level. It’s not working. Curriculum that does not teach core measurable educational qualities is inherently going to divert valuable instructional time. At a time when California is last in literacy, replacing reading, writing and math with agendas irrelevant to scholastic material is problematic. Let’s focus on the basics and master them rather than getting into complex issues of race and sexuality that confound most of the adults in our country.”

Hold on..

“Let’s focus on the basics and master them”

Isn’t that what ALL SDUSD Stakeholders, especially Parents, have been saying for the last 8 years?

Isn’t that what the horrible test scores have been saying for the last 8 years?

Isn’t that what the fake graduation rates have been saying for the last 8 years?

Like Candidate Christianson said in the interview:

“Quit ignoring parents. No amount of government resources or programs or mandates are of any use if the parent doesn’t have a say in where those resources go. When parents feel empowered and can have a say about their child’s education, everyone does better.”

Somehow, in the SDUTEB thought process to endorse AWOL Tony Thurmond, candidate Christianson’s focus on the huge need for “core measurable educational qualities” and “promise to center parents in decision-making” is worse than Thurmonds ongoing parent exclusion and the massive Covid learning loss caused by his “AWOL” inaction the SDUTEB predicts for the next 4 years.

As an editorial endorsement position, is avoiding “culture wars” and embracing Thurmond’s unchallenged “race and sexuality” political agenda going to somehow BUILD Student Math and English skills and wash away his continued lies and dereliction of duty in an AWOL second term?

SDUTEB – THAT MAKES NO SENSE!!!

Like we said in our previous Sunday Reads praising you:

DON’T GIVE UP NOW!

We look forward to you supporting full SDUSD honesty and transparency in the items listed above and FULL followup to hold the SDUSD accountable in an open selection process that includes ALL SDUSD Stakeholders!

Endorsing Thurmond was a mistake based on your own evidence.

Prop U is the next SDUSD scam on the political docket.

Please live up to your journalistic commitment to “base our editorials and endorsements on reporting, interviews and rigorous debate, and strive for accuracy, fairness and civility in our section.“

Your suscribers and all SDUSD Stakeholders, especially Parents, are counting on you for journalistic honesty and independence.

Change your endorsement of AWOL Thurmond.

And don’t let your subscribers down again on Prop U!

Now for our quote of the week dedicated to the local San Diego Press Corps who risk their employment future when speaking out against powerful political machines that back corrupt candidates like AWOL Tony and the corrupt SDUSD Board of Education:

“We don’t go into journalism to be popular. It is our job to seek the truth and put constant pressure on our leaders until we get answers.” – Helen Thomas

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