Rob Cordray uses a skit on The Daily Show, in which he tells Jon Stewart, the straight man, that facts are no longer reported. The facts themselves are biased against George Bush. Instead, only context or opinion is used. Taking a page out of the Republican play book, Pedro Garcia happily works in an environment free of troubling facts.
In his recent interview on Channel 50, Garcia returns to familiar unsupported--and unsupportable--opinions, some of which go back to his first week in the school system. The word "dysfunctional" is thrown about again; it has been almost four years since we heard it. Then, without any credible evidence to back it up, he tells the audience that everything was pretty much terrible when he arrived. Working hard with only his California crowd as resources, he turned a great deal of it around. But somehow, unknown forces are still keeping him embattled and discouraged.
Facts don't count here because no matter how much they are reported, he is allowed to go on using the megaphone of the local news media, creating his own reality. No one apparently remembers that Bill Purcell and the Metro Council provided more money to the school system in a shorter period of time than had ever been seen in Metro. With all this additional money, Garcia still cut 300 teachers and squandered almost half of the money on printed materials, decorating schemes and empire building in central office that had little connection to the priorities of the board of education. No one cared however, because if he held up his role as a change agent, the school board was supposed to blindly follow. And follow they did until community outcry about school closings finally caused seven of them to see that they could not cast their fate to the whims of Garcia's crowd.
As this story develops, more facts will be presented. The observer in Nashville should watch for the spectacular claims of local incompetence that cannot be backed up with any real evidence.
Exhibit one: In the interview, Garcia claimed when he arrived there were roofs that leaked and doors that wouldn't lock. The same could be said today. The question should be, if facts were sought, is how many roofs leaked and how long had the work order been unattended? Also, how many unprocessed work orders exist today on doors that will not lock. It is common knowledge that the system was recovering from thirty years of underfunding, and the capital needs were being addressed. The real heavy lifting was being done by Bill Purcell and the Metro Council. They provided the money that made possible improvements in the physical plant.
Exhibit Two: The budget reported in the Tennessean and published in detail on the Tennessean's web site indicates $5,000,000 needed for paying incremental increases to teachers for time in service. This number is wildly exaggerated if not totally phony. The reason is that for every teacher who moves up in service, another teacher at the top of the pay lane resigns or retires. Additionally, during the year, teachers resign and are replaced with new teachers at the bottom of the pay plan.
Exhibit Three: Council lady Carol Baldwin Tucker listed approximately $1,000,000 which could be saved by cutting non-essential but very highly paid persons in Central Office. Of the proposed cuts, said to be necessary, not one was a Central Office administrator.