Tonight’s the night. There is a meeting at Gilbert High School at 6:30 PM. The title of the meeting is “GCA permanent location hearing.” What people don’t know from that *title* is that the Governing Board of Gilbert Public Schools will listen to comments from the public, and then they will decide whether to close Gilbert Junior High School or Mesquite Junior High School.
That vote was scheduled for March 29, 2016, but the timeline MIGHT be changed. So come on out to the public meeting where Superintendent Christina Kishimoto will trot out Her Three Votes on the governing board … they’ll pretend to listen. Then they’ll do what the superintendent told them to do.
There’s an off chance that the board will vote to create a *school within a school* at Mesquite Junior High School. That would put Gilbert Classical Academy students attending classes at the same campus as the unwashed masses poor brown Hispanic kids who live in the neighborhood. GCA doesn’t like this option. Their mantra is, “Why should *THOSE KIDS* have their own campus just because schools used to be built to serve students in their own neighborhoods in the Town of Gilbert? We want a new campus and we want it now!”
Last night, the GPS Governing Board refused Superintendent Christina Kishimoto’s demand recommendation to suspend the policy and/or regulation that was unanimously put into place to prevent another debacle like the LAST TIME GPS TRIED TO CLOSE GILBERT JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL. Board members Julie Smith and Daryl Colvin have been staunch advocates for Truth, Justice and The American Way in opposition to the Superintendent’s slippery slope of deviant ethical and moral equivocation. We’ll have the video clips for you later, along with details about how the board voted 3-2 to stick to their fiduciary duties to follow the law and their own policies and/or regulations. You’ll want lots of popcorn when watching all that!
Not even Christina Kishimoto could keep straight the distinctions between the law, district policies and implementing regulations. She had already failed to comply with Arizona statutes for closing a school, so she wanted the board to change the rules in the middle of the game. Did the superintendent really believe that trickery would save her pet project? Obviously, this saga will go down as another episode of Lies Christina Kishimoto Tells. Sheeeeesh.
Here’s a shout-out to advocates for Saving Mesquite Junior High School: dudes, we’re hearing that the principal *quietly* advised you to keep all this on the down-low. Do you really believe that Principal Dan-the-Yes-Man Johnson has your best interests at heart if he’s saying that? Come on, all this pretending to listen to the public will be over and done with by the time you realize that you may have been duped. You do know that Good Old Dave Allison told the GJHS community the same thing last time, don’t you? Dave’s advice: “Stay silent and don’t make the board mad at you or they’ll vote to close your school.”
Even Jill Humpherys bristled with pretend indignation when her fellow board member mater-of-factly asked if there had been some kind of illegal quorum he didn’t know about. Silly Jilly absolutely insists there wasn’t a secret pinky promise to use Mesquite Junior High School as a cover for the already made decision to close Gilbert Junior High School. Her unspoken words: those uppity GJHS people are just asking for it after they dared to oppose the old board the last time their school was on the chopping block. Jill has some scores to even on behalf of former board members who lost their seats in that debacle.
Gilbert Classical Academy is sick and tired of waiting, so let’s get this show on the road. See you tonight!
#SAVEGJHS For your viewing pleasure: