Paz had just appointed two talented African-Americans, Kelly Langford and Harriett Scarborough, to a pair of his new “officer” positions in the clumsy, ramshackle “reorganization” of the TUSD administration. His previous attempt to “reorganize” the District resulted in the whitest administration in memory and several minority administrators were publicly, and unnecessarily, humiliated in the process. Paz, who has the political IQ of broccoli, did not see what Copeland saw: blatant tokenism.

So, instead of fawning over Paz and praising his elevation of Langford and Scarborough, Copeland ripped into him for the clumsiness, cruelty, and overall racial insensitivity of the “reorganization” process. Copeland can rip with the best of them. Paz, who surrounds himself with sycophants and is unaccustomed to disagreement, was speechless. He stormed away from Copeland, walked into his office area, returned to the Board Room, glared at Copeland, and pointedly slammed the door when he left her presence. Copeland just smiled and shook her head. Paz was clueless, easily rattled, and high-strung. Dead meat for Copeland.

Whatever his skills and talents – and he manages to hide them well – Paz is the most politically obtuse Superintendent in TUSD history. He did not, or could not, see what Copeland saw: that the elevation of Langford and Scarborough had more to do with deflecting community anger over the reorganization process than merit. The shame is that Scarborough and Langford are experienced, respected, and talented administrators who did not deserve to be smeared with the stain of tokenism. Paz made a political move, a transparent one at that, and nobody was fooled. A Superintendent with a modicum of political smarts would have elevated them early and proactively, not late and reactively. They, and TUSD, deserved better.

After Paz’ surprise reorganization in March, he met privately with Albert Soto, Chairperson of the Independent Citizens’ Committee (ICC), a group created by the Fisher-Mendoza desegregation lawsuit to monitor the District’s compliance with the Order that mandated desegregation. Paz declared war on the ICC within months of his hiring and the relations between the Committee and the Superintendent have been rocky. Nonetheless, Paz has attended ICC meetings and is usually available to meet with whoever is the Chairperson at the time. At Soto’s request, a meeting was scheduled.

TUSD Senior Legal Counsel Jane Butler also attended the meeting. As Soto complained about the purge of minority administrators and the way they were treated, Butler decided to weigh in. “If minorities can’t get the job done,” she told Soto, “why not give white people a chance?” Soto was speechless. He expected racial insensitivity, given the recent history in the District. He did not expect to hear such a racially loaded comment, especially from the District’s top lawyer. Paz did not correct Butler. In fact, he said nothing at all. Soto is still angry about Butler’s comments.

Whether it stems from Paz’ political ineptitude, Butler’s insensitivity, or something else, the fact is that equal opportunity and racial sensitivity have fallen off the TUSD radar screen. The reorganization eliminated the Equity Development Department (EDD), the entity that was tasked with enforcing compliance with the various laws, regulations, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) agreements, and court orders that govern TUSD. As of July 1, 2003, there was no process within TUSD that allowed employees, parents, and students to file complaints of unlawful discrimination. Paz claims that a similar entity will eventually replace the EDD. Court orders are not suspended for bureaucratic clumsiness. Paragraph 19 of the Stipulation of Settlement in the Fisher-Mendoza case requires that the District provide an independent office, such as the EDD, for minority students and parents to file complaints of unlawful discrimination. When the EDD was eliminated as of July 1, 2003, and nothing replaced it, the District arguably placed itself in violation of the Court Order. Paz and Butler don’t seem to care.

The ICC cares. Soto wrote Federal Judge Alfredo Marquez and requested that the Court examine the District’s lack of compliance with the Fisher-Mendoza decree and civil rights laws and regulations in general. Marquez granted Soto’s request and ordered the District’s privately retained lawyers, Deconcini, McDonald, Yetwin, and Lacy, to respond to the allegations that the District was in potential violation of the Court Order. There is a lot of expensive lawyering going on right now, in anticipation of a seminal court hearing this fall. The taxpayers of TUSD are paying thousands of dollars in legal fees because of Paz and Butler’s apparent disregard of civil rights laws and the Court Order. It’s not money well spent. It’s a waste of money, totally unnecessary, and a major distraction during the beginning of school.

Another example of the District’s negligence in the area of equal opportunity law is the dismantling of the “Meaningful Access” program for language minorities. Complaints had been filed against the District with the OCRs of two federal agencies (Education, and Health and Human Services) alleging violation of federal laws and regulations that require interpretation and translation services for language minorities. The District, as a recipient of federal funds, must ensure that parents can effectively participate in the education of their children regardless of English language deficiency. That means the District must provide interpreters, if requested, for discipline hearings, teacher-parent conferences, visits to the nurse’s office, and so on. After substantial negotiations, the District created a program that is reasonable, not burdensome, and regarded as a “national model” by both federal agencies. Incredibly, every person with any knowledge or experience in the Meaningful Access program has been forced out. There is no way the District can honor the agreements with the federal agencies when school starts. In fact, the District is in violation of the agreements right now and both federal agencies know it.

The “reorganization” of TUSD is an appalling example of bureaucratic incompetence. The claim that the reorganizers are making administration more efficient and directing more resources to the classrooms is a bald-faced lie. The “reorganization” is nothing more than a redistribution of pork. Witness Butler’s Legal Department, where the replacement for Associate Legal Counsel Lisa Abrams will be paid what Senior Legal Counsel Larry Klose was paid before Butler took over. Butler already makes thousands more than Klose did. Given the higher salary now guaranteed to her associates, she will be pushing six figures soon. Not bad for a lawyer who never goes to court.

It all comes down to this: Paz does not listen to, and does not understand, the TUSD community. He has exported the reorganization of TUSD to a know-nothing “blue ribbon” committee named TUBAC. All you need to know about TUBAC is that its second report had nearly as much biographical information about its members as recommendations for TUSD. It looks more like a compilation of resumes than a serious analysis. TUBAC’s reports are, to be blunt about it, worthless. What does that say about the reorganization?

What is says it this: the reorganization of TUSD has a lot more to do with Paz’ social-climbing than educational service delivery. Paz likes to brag about his “portfolio.” He once referred to himself as the “CEO” of TUSD (prompting a fellow Superintendent to tell him to get over himself). He likes the clubishness of TUBAC and the admission into an elite society that has nothing in common with the average TUSD parent and student. There is no room for equal opportunity in that mindset.