Tuba City staffers placed on leave, officials mum
By Cindy Yurth
Tséyi' Bureau
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CHINLE , March 6, 2008
Tuba City Unified School District whistleblowers Ron Begay and Rosanda Suetopka-Thayer were placed on administrative leave Friday, they said in separate telephone interviews.Associate Superintendent for Human Resources Adelbert Goldtooth did not return a phone call to his office Monday.
Begay and Suetopka-Thayer both said they received hand-delivered letters Friday informing them they were to remain at home or within contact of the district until further notice for "unprofessional and inappropriate conduct."
The employees said the conduct that cost them the suspension was not specified, and they were composing a joint letter to Goldtooth asking which school policy they are accused of violating.
"I don't see anything in our handbook about 'unprofessional' or 'inappropriate conduct,'" said Suetopka-Thayer, the district's public information officer.
She said she was also informed she was to report to Goldtooth from now on rather than Superintendent Eugene Thomas.
Suetopka-Thayer said she suspected the paid leave is in retaliation for filing a complaint against Thomas with the school board that resulted in an investigation of his financial management of the district in January.
The investigation turned up only one violation of state law - failing to mark district-owned vehicles as such - but did determine that Thomas had given two hefty raises, to Goldtooth and recently promoted chief financial officer Joe Begay, without the school board's approval.
The school board was meeting last night and any action or discussion was unavailable at press time.
Board president Linda Honahni did not return a phone call to her workplace Friday. Thomas, reached by phone at his office Monday, said he had no comment.
Begay and Suetopka-Thayer said they had reported their administrative leave to Coconino County Superintendent Cecelia Owen. On Friday, a spokeswoman for Owen confirmed that the superintendent is aware of the situation and is researching whether it is a violation of Arizona's Employment Protection Act.
Begay, who is the district's construction manager, said he and Suetopka-Thayer will continue to press their complaint with the Arizona Board of Education asking that Thomas's credentials be revoked.
A delegation from Dilkon, Ariz., where Thomas was chief executive officer of the Dilkon Community School from 1999-2001, has joined in that effort, as have some people in Shonto, Ariz., where Thomas also worked for a year.
Thomas was principal of Shonto Preparatory School from 2004 to 2005. During his tenure, a group of teachers complained that bonuses they were supposed to get through Arizona's Proposition 301 - incentive pay for teachers working in low-income districts - never made it into their paychecks, while Thomas and two other top administrators received $10,000 pay increases in the middle of the school year.
Another school district where Thomas was superintendent, Peach Springs on the Hualapai Reservation, is currently in receivership, and a 107-page report by the forensic auditors who investigated the district's financial status put the blame on Thomas and the school board.
The auditors have also recommended Thomas's credentials be revoked.
Thomas has said in written statements that the schools he worked at were already in severe financial distress when he came on board, and he was taking steps to remedy the situation.
The Arizona Board of Education has taken the matter under advisement.
Meanwhile, Thomas has filed a $25 million libel suit against the Navajo Times, the Arizona Daily Sun, their reporters who covered the story, Ron Begay and Suetopka-Thayer. The complaint was filed last week in Navajo Nation District Court in Window Rock.
Duane A. Beyal, editor of the Navajo Times, said Wednesday he had not seen any official document regarding the lawsuit.
However, he said he stands behind the Times' coverage and all news stories are backed up by extensive documentation.