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Las Cruces School Board has a blind spot when it comes to Ewing

 

  Commentary: In all my years of local government reporting, I’ve never seen a new leader make a better first impression than Greg Ewing when he was hired as superintendent of the Las Cruces school district in December of 2016.

 

For months leading up to his hiring, the school board had been locked in a bitter struggle with then-Education Secretary Hanna Skandera, who at one point threatened to take over control of the district.

Stan Rounds, the superintendent at that time, made the mistake of trying to appease both sides.

Board members were looking for a full-throated advocate, and found one in Ewing. He forcefully stood up for the district, and eloquently defended its teachers.

 

Perhaps that’s why, more than two years later, school board member Terrie Dallman is still referring to him as “a breath of fresh air.”

 

 

I was firmly on the bandwagon, and wrote an editorial at the time praising Ewing and commending the school board for its wisdom in hiring him.

 

I now believe Ewing has proven to be a leader with authoritarian tendencies who has bloated the administration with supporters, many from his former jobs and some lacking the proper credentials. In April, 2018, the Sun-News reported that the central office budget had increased by $2 million under Ewing, and four of the new hires lacked the proper licenses for their jobs.

 

I believe he has abused his power in ways that will be costly to district taxpayers down the road when all the court cases and legal settlements are done.

And, I believe that Ewing’s unshakable support for the board during its time of conflict with the state has blinded its members to his performance since then.

 

Apparently I’m not alone.   

 

Last week, a group calling itself Enough announced that it would launch a petition drive to recall the entire school board for its handling of the mold situation at Columbia Elementary and for failing to supervise Ewing.

 

To be clear, I don’t support the recall. The will of the voters should not be overturned unless there is some evidence of wrongdoing. And, I don’t think Ewing is to blame for the Columbia mess. A prior administration failed in its oversight of that project.

 

But I do share the group’s concerns about the superintendent, and their frustration with the board’s unwillingness to listen to those concerns.

 

When school board members dismiss complaints against Ewing as coming from “disgruntled former employees” I can’t help but hear echos from past county commissioners who dismissed complaints filed by Jorge Granados, Veronica Apodaca and Kim Stewart because they, too, were disgruntled former employees.

 

It turns out they had good reason to be disgruntled. By the time their lawsuits were settled, Granados had been awarded $250,000, Apodaca $450,000 and Stewart $1.2 million.

 

Many of the same taxpayers who shelled out the money for the county’s mismanagement in those cases will now be on the hook for future verdicts or settlements in cases filed against the school district.

 

Three cases are currently pending, the latest filed by Elizabeth Marrufo, a former director for human resources and chief strategy officer. She claims that Ewing became angry and retaliated against her when she raised legal concerns about his plans to fire other employees.

 

Lillian Duran and Jo Galvan also have cases pending against the district. Duran, a former Head Start facilitator, claims discrimination for age and physical handicaps in her lawsuit.

 

Galvan’s claims are similar to those of Marrufo. A former communications director, she alleges that Ewing retaliated against her for questioning his compliance with the state open records law.

 

Marrufo’s lawsuit was filed March 19 in district court. I doubt that it will be the last.

While I don’t support the recall, I do think the district needs new leadership. The next school board election is Nov. 5 of this year.

 

Walt Rubel can be reached at waltrubel@gmail.com