TC board reverses raises for staffers
By Cindy Yurth
Tséyi' Bureau
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| Font: N / N+ / N++ CHINLE, April 10, 2008
The Tuba City School Board reportedly voted at its regular meeting last Thursday not to approve two large raises given at the beginning of the school year by Superintendent Eugene Thomas.A January investigation into the raises, $20,000 each to associate superintendent for human services Adelbert Goldtooth and chief financial officer Joseph Begay, revealed the board had never approved them.
The attorney who conducted the investigation advised the board to make the raises official, deny them, or give the employees a different amount.
According to district policy, the men's salaries will be adjusted to repay the raises over time.
Tuba City Education Association President Greg McQuade, who attended the meeting, said board member Alvin Harvey proposed reducing the raises to $10,000 each, but that motion died for lack of a second.
Next, board member Alan Numkena proposed reducing the raises to $5,000, but board president Linda Honahni and member Mary Worker voted against that motion.
Then Honahni moved to return the men to their original salaries of $71,000 each. Worker seconded the motion and it passed 2-1-1, with Worker and Honahni voting for it, Harvey voting against it, and Numkena abstaining. Board member Jack Begay was not in attendance.
Of the five board members, only Begay returned a phone call by press time. He said he could not confirm what went on at the board meeting because he wasn't there.
In other action, the board reportedly tabled the renewal of Tuba City High School Principal Jacqueline Wauneka's contract.
Wauneka has come under fire from both parents and teachers for what some consider overly strict policies for both staff and students. This week, for instance, some faculty reported they were not given leave time to attend the funeral of their colleague, Sgt. Kenneth Bustamante.
The board also tabled Wauneka's recommendation not to renew Vice Principal Raymond Pacheco's contract after Karin Jones presented a petition in support of Pacheco, McQuade said.
In order to make a decision on the renewals, the board will have to call a special meeting, as their approval on the contracts is needed by April 15 and they are not scheduled to meet before then.
"We (the union) will definitely urge the board to call a special meeting and get these decisions finalized," McQuade said.
The board also reportedly voted down an appropriation for Thomas and another employee to attend a conference in Washington, D.C.
McQuade said he was pleasantly surprised by the board's actions, since the board seemed to be listening to district staffers and the public.
"We can take this as a victory and steer our momentum into a direction that is dedicated to improving the education in Tuba City," he wrote in an e-mail.
On a less positive note, McQuade said Honahni allowed only five of 10 people to speak during the call to the public, and two TEA members were not allowed to speak.
The union plans to file a complaint under the state open meetings law with the Arizona Attorney General's Office, according to McQuade. This will be the third such complaint against the board in two years.