Maden responds to Tezozomoc comment
Raquel Maden responds to Tezozomoc comment published March 19, 2010, in regards to Pearl Quinones being laid off after 19 years on the job during a heated political contest between Maden’s employer and Quinones.
I have a great deal of respect for your late father, your paper and the things that your family has done to further Latinos in our community and, subsequently, our nation. I remember a conversation I had with your father one night after a debate at Southwestern College where he participated as a panelist. He congratulated me on my election and offered me advice. He said I needed to watch out for newspapers that offer half-truths, slanted journalism and target educated, intelligent and motivated Latinos that they feel threatened by. How sad it is to see that his own paper is the culprit of sloppy journalism and regurgitation of one-sided rumor. I wish you had had the courtesy to call me to comment on the situation.
Let me do my part in setting the record straight. First of all, my name is Raquel Marquez Maden, not Beltran. I have been in office for 6 years, endorsed by your newspaper twice, had 2 full page articles written about me, and you still fail to know my name? Additionally, you STILL managed to spell my name incorrectly after attempting to take another stab at it.
Regardless, I admire that you have asked your readers to decide whether the action eliminating Pearl Quiñones’s (sic) position was politics or not. Your readership, as taxpayers and constituents, will make an educated decision for themselves once the facts are known.
We, as a board, attempted to make cuts based on keeping essential educational services and keeping cuts as far away from the classroom as possible. We have a budget of $40 million for which we were forced to find $4.4 million in cuts. The superintendent brought to us a budget reduction “package”. In the package was a list of positions, not individual names. Many of the positions were proposed to be eliminated or reduced.
Three of the positions listed in the budget reduction package were those of Drop-Out Specialists. These position (sic) were formerly funded by SB65, which has, over the years, reduced its funding more and more, putting more and more stress on our general fund. In most cases, grant based positions are eliminated if the grant can no longer cover 100% of the funding. Over the years, our SB65 positions have been kept alive by encroaching on the general fund. However, in such a bad economic climate, our general fund cannot handle encroachments. Therefore, we have been forced to choose between keeping classroom teachers over drop-out specialists in schools housing Kinder through Third Grade.
Another fact to consider is that it takes a majority vote of the board to uphold the recommendations of the superintendent. The board voted to implement the budget reductions package. My fellow board member Jean Romero has long been one of Pearl’s best friends and biggest political allies. Jean is endorsing her in her race and is actively campaigning for her. Yet Jean still voted to eliminate the positions as recommended by the superintendent. Why? Because we are elected by the people to make hard-decisions, not run away from them. Regardless of who (sic) our personal friends are, who we ally with politically or who we are related to, we have to act in the best interest of the students and be held accountable to the taxpayers. Had I looked at the positions proposed for elimination with names attached, I would have seen many of my friends and former co-workers. But that was not the case. If these budget reductions had been the actions of my political operations as you claim by stating that I “lead the charge to lay-off Pearl Quiñones”, then Mrs. Romero would surely not have voted for a package if it were designed to victimize her long time friend and ally.
Please realize, as your father did when I was first elected, that I am an independent thinker. I make decisions based on facts, not on my personal relationships. We eliminated positions because the board had to, not because we wanted to. Should the superintendent have brought a budget reduction package during better budgetary times, I can assure you the board would have not voted for them.
Lastly, Dan, regardless of the fact that I hold a political office, I am nothing but a servant of the people who elected me to make decisions in the best interest of kids. I think you will see by my voting record that I have held steadfast to this task. I would be proud to stand in front of your late father right now and show him what I have accomplished.
Raquel Marquez Maden
School Board Member, San Ysidro Elementary School District
Editor’s Note: It has been our policy to allow letters sent to La Prensa to stand on their own with no further comment. But since you felt compelled to invoke the memory of my father and lay a guilt trip, I felt compelled to invoke one of my father’s traditions of adding a comment following a letter and respond.
As for the messing up of your name I accept full responsibility for that and I apologize.
As for your recollection of what my father said, doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t sound like something he would have said. La Prensa San Diego has never been defined as your typical “AP styled” newspaper. La Prensa has always been slanted; slanted toward the issues and concerns of the Chicano and Hispanic community and as stated in mission statement we see the news through our brown eyes.
As for the Tezzy comment regarding the budget cuts and your role in the process is a legitimate question, we were not questioning the cuts per se but your role. As an employee of Ben Hueso working side by side and public supporter of the Hueso campaign and where his only challenger is Pearl Quinones there is the issue of a conflict of interest. Whenever there is such an issue, the elected official is usually required to abstain from the public vote. Whether or not your situation legally requires you to abstain is a question for legal experts. But we are still left with the perception of dirty politics being played out here.
As for your claim that fellow board member Jean Romero voted for the cuts is a supporter of Quinones. That Romero is a supporter of Quinones may be true, at the same time she is listed on the Hueso web site as a supporter of Ben Hueso, quien sabe.
And in regards to your statement that you don’t look at the names of the people involved when considering cutting their jobs, eliminating their income, their health care, and possibly sending them into bankruptcy, it is disappointing to hear that you reduce these peoples lives to a mere dollar figure on a budget report. That statement in of itself is a bit sad.
Well that is it. Tezzy just ask the questions, puts food for thought out there, something to ponder. I could have called you, but the phone line goes both ways and it seems the only time you pick up the phone to call La Prensa is when you are running for office and looking for support…
Daniel Munoz, Jr.
Editor