People in The Town of Gilbert Arizona are asking a lot of questions about Superintendent Christina Kishimoto’s *alleged* improper relationship with her subordinate, the Executive Director of Technology, Charles Stevin “Steve” Smith. When the Gilbert Public Schools Governing Board meeting on January 26, 2016 was opened to comments from the public, the public spoke out loud and clear on many subjects, including this scandalous subject.
GPS has breached the public trust in ways large and small. This is really brilliant of the GPS Superintendent and Governing Board, especially coming on the heels of new taxes that citizens narrowly approved for their school district <dripping sarcasm>. The money isn’t reaching the kids. In fact, you seldom hear anything much about the kids these days in the hallowed halls of the White Castle, where the district offices are located. That’s also the epicenter of The Great Payday Melee that continues to deprive hardworking GPS employees of their lawfully earned pay.
Background from a previous Westie post: When the going got tough and the Infinite Visions software implementation imploded, Executive Director of Technology Charles Stevin Smith, aka Steve Smith, bailed out of Gilbert Public Schools. Or maybe he bailed because of the anonymous letter about his *inappropriate relationship* with his boss, Superintendent Christina Kishimoto. There are lots of *fringe benefits* associated with being Superintendent Christina Kishimoto’s *alleged* boyfriend. Getting a $10,000.00 raise appears to be one of them. Notice in this fiasco that even Her Three Votes apparently approved of the Superintendent’s dalliances. Too bad the whole “GPS is the Technology District” now is a total failure. Other school districts must be ROFLAO. Muchly.
Here’s a citizen of The Town of Gilbert explaining why Superintendent Christina Kishimoto’s *alleged* inappropriate relationship violates not just the public trust, but also GPS policies. Not that Her Three Votes on the GPS Governing Board will do anything about it, as we all know:
In response, Clerk of the Governing Board Jill Humpherys (photo at the top of this post) expressed her disappointment that The Town Of Gilbert is a small town. Dressed like that, Jill criticized someone in the audience! What chutzpah! That hat!!! This fashion disaster eclipses anything Westie has seen in GPS. Please give that jacket back to whoever it is that’s so much smaller than you are, Jill, and close your legs, at least a bit.
Silly Jillie also said the Governing Board ain’t gonna do nuthin ’til someone signs their name … presumably so they can be fired, as in the Infamous Case of Brian Yee’s Infamy. Just so you know, folks, the Governing Board ain’t gonna do nuthin even then, as Board President Lily Tram stated when there was indeed a signed complaint about Superintendent Christina Kishimoto’s catastrophic careen through Gilbert Municipal Court in an attempt to unlawfully silence someone while lying through her teeth in a court of law. Board President Lily Tram said the board would do nothing unless presented with a Notice of Claim, as in “So, sue me!” Oooooh, such bravado!
The audience for this GPS Governing Board meeting was packed … with principals who had been summoned by *email from on high* to attend. That probably happened after the superintendency found out the media would be attending. The principals and the media were treated to some plain speaking that reveals much about why GPS is losing students at an unprecedented pace. Kishimoto’s high-fiving and end zone dancing after votes was an image that was worth a thousand words … not in a good way, Chica.
Before posting the transcript, you should know that the reference to GPS Board President Lily Tram interrupting the speaker is based on past behavior form the dais. Lily Tram does not like to hear negative words that might shine a negative light on the *national reputation* that seems to be Superintendent Christina Kishimoto’s top priority. From the minutes of the December 2015 board meeting: “Mrs. Tram mentioned to refrain from voicing personnel or personal individuals with the district because it could cause due process rights.” Now Westie is ROFLAO: “Cause due process rights!” ROFLAO.
Later in this meeting, Board Member Daryl Colvin asked Christina Kishimoto point blank if Steve Smith paid the $2,500.00 *hostage clause* fee. Superintendent Kishimoto stated the full $2,500 was paid. Of course, this exchange highlighted the fact that all GPS contracts reserve to the board the power to approve employee resignations before the end of the contract and also to approve any waiver of the *hostage clause* fee. Christina Kishimoto did not like hearing that there are any limits to her powers in Gilbert Public Schools. There’s a question about whether she will rewrite the 2016-2017 GPS employee contracts to grant those powers to herself. You know Her Three Votes will do whatever Christina Kishimoto wants.
Transcript of the video clip above:
I am speaking tonight about a matter that is on the agenda. Mrs. Tram, do not interrupt me, because you and I both know from the recent OML training that “You may not control the content of speech so long as the speech relates to something within the authority of the board.”
You know, as many people in the Town of Gilbert know, that the board received an anonymous letter from a teacher about the superintendent’s inappropriate relationship with the former Executive Director of Technology. That administrator resigned a few days after the accusation became public, which gave great credibility to what the anonymous letter writer reported to you.
An anonymous teacher reported to you conduct that is absolutely intolerable in the workplace: an *inappropriate relationship* between the superintendent and one of her top administrators. Employees, especially teachers, tell you they are afraid of retaliation, something they have been saying for years.
You as a board have allowed situations to exist in which citizens and employees have no reasonable way to report misconduct, especially when it involves the superintendent.
The board’s disciplinary policies are laughable when it comes to doing anything when the superintendent behaves outside the bounds of decency and violates district policy. Even where you have a policy, and you do have policies that address this situation, the board has refused to address wrongdoing that was reported through channels when it involved the superintendent.
What are you, as a board, going to do about the public trust that has been squandered by a superintendent who violated a GPS policy that describes misconduct as “Inappropriate personal or sexual relationships with students, employees, or others”? This is intentional discrimination, which has created a hostile working environment for others who have not been promoted or have not received pay increases.
How do you expect this superintendent to enforce against any other employee the GPS policy that defines misconduct as “Immoral conduct that directly affects the employee’s ability to perform their responsibilities and/or to enforce the District’s policies and regulations”?
How do you expect GPS employees to respect this superintendent now? How do you expect the public to respect this superintendent and you, the people who enable her despicable and unlawful behavior that is disrupting the workplace?
Do you expect this to go away if you hide your heads like ostriches and don’t address the breach of trust that results from misconduct of such a magnitude in the operations of the biggest employer in the Town of Gilbert?