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Weighing in without facts does not bode well for Horne
What started as dust-up with a strictly Tucson address has the potential to spread state-wide.
We are referring to the debacle of Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne's weighing in on Tucson Unified School District's Post-Unitary Status Plan. TUSD wants to be out from under the desegregation order and the federal court is requiring a comprehensive plan for how the district will prevent new disparities.
Part of that plan addresses student discipline and the fact that, districtwide, figures show that black, Hispanic and Native American kids get into trouble and are suspended from school at a higher rate than Anglo classmates. The numbers may indicate that punishments may have been handed out unequally. The Post-Unitary Status Plan outlines how to determine what is happening and how to ensure that discipline is meted out equally.
We don't have an opinion on the Post-Unitary Status Plan, other than to be grateful that local children don't attend TUSD schools. What caught our attention was Horne's bulling his way into the entire discussion without ever having read the plan. He condemned the thing publicly based on a seriously flawed column that had appeared in the Arizona Republic criticizing the plan. The column was so full of mistakes that TUSD is demanding a retraction.
Nonetheless, armed only with ignorance, Horne weighed in on the issue causing an uproar that could have been avoided. Not only did he not read the plan, he didn't talk to anyone at TUSD about it. God forbid that a politician's opinions be informed by actual fact, especially when rumor and misstatement has the potential to garner much more press.
Ordinarily, we would shake our heads and feel sorry for the TUSD officials who have to deal with this mess. But unfortunately, Tom Horne has loftier ambitions than Superintendent of Public Instruction. He would like to be the state's attorney general, and his assistant (who apparently also did not read the plan before the public comments) wants to step into his shoes.
That concerns all of us. We can't help but view Horne's insertion into the TUSD issue as political grandstanding. And it is troubling that a guy who wants to be the state's chief law enforcement officer is happy to shoot from the hip without benefit of facts. That is the last thing the state of Arizona needs.
So we would urge Mr. Horne, if you are going to insert yourself into a school district issue, please do your homework. The way you are operating currently does not bode well for the attorney general's office, should you run and win.
We are referring to the debacle of Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne's weighing in on Tucson Unified School District's Post-Unitary Status Plan. TUSD wants to be out from under the desegregation order and the federal court is requiring a comprehensive plan for how the district will prevent new disparities.
Part of that plan addresses student discipline and the fact that, districtwide, figures show that black, Hispanic and Native American kids get into trouble and are suspended from school at a higher rate than Anglo classmates. The numbers may indicate that punishments may have been handed out unequally. The Post-Unitary Status Plan outlines how to determine what is happening and how to ensure that discipline is meted out equally.
We don't have an opinion on the Post-Unitary Status Plan, other than to be grateful that local children don't attend TUSD schools. What caught our attention was Horne's bulling his way into the entire discussion without ever having read the plan. He condemned the thing publicly based on a seriously flawed column that had appeared in the Arizona Republic criticizing the plan. The column was so full of mistakes that TUSD is demanding a retraction.
Nonetheless, armed only with ignorance, Horne weighed in on the issue causing an uproar that could have been avoided. Not only did he not read the plan, he didn't talk to anyone at TUSD about it. God forbid that a politician's opinions be informed by actual fact, especially when rumor and misstatement has the potential to garner much more press.
Ordinarily, we would shake our heads and feel sorry for the TUSD officials who have to deal with this mess. But unfortunately, Tom Horne has loftier ambitions than Superintendent of Public Instruction. He would like to be the state's attorney general, and his assistant (who apparently also did not read the plan before the public comments) wants to step into his shoes.
That concerns all of us. We can't help but view Horne's insertion into the TUSD issue as political grandstanding. And it is troubling that a guy who wants to be the state's chief law enforcement officer is happy to shoot from the hip without benefit of facts. That is the last thing the state of Arizona needs.
So we would urge Mr. Horne, if you are going to insert yourself into a school district issue, please do your homework. The way you are operating currently does not bode well for the attorney general's office, should you run and win.
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