Zuni superintendent hearing continues

Copyright © 2009
By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff writer

GALLUP — Attorney Bruce Berlin of the New Mexico Public Education Department scored one dramatic victory Friday morning.

Berlin is representing the state in its case against Zuni Public School Superintendent Kaye L. Peery, who is facing allegations of misconduct. Peery’s administrative hearing began on Monday in the school board meeting room of the Gallup-McKinley County Schools and is scheduled to continue for at least another five days.

Marisa Poleviyaoma, co-president of the Zuni Federation of United School Employees, concluded her testimony Friday morning, after beginning Thursday. Others who testified Thursday were Sue Griffith, the former Federal Projects director, and William Becker, a teacher for the Zuni schools.
Over the objection of Peery’s attorney, Eleanor K. Bratton, Poleviyaoma was allowed by hearing officer Barbara Ann Michael to talk about concerns and documents discussed in Community Awareness for Responsible Education meetings.

One of those topics of discussion was Cynthia Trujillo, who Peery hired to coordinate the ZPSD’s technology department.

In her testimony, Poleviyaoma said Peery did not advertise Trujillo’s position; dummied down the job requirements to hire Trujillo; allowed Trujillo to be hired in spite of an alleged felony conviction; allowed Trujillo to hire her domestic partner to work under her supervision; and allowed Trujillo to raise her technology staff salaries 20 to 60 percent.

While Bratton asserted that two other employees supervised Trujillo’s boyfriend, Poleviyaoma disagreed and said that supervision was only on paper. “Ms. Trujillo was the one who evaluated him,” she said.

While Bratton asserted that under state law, Trujillo’s alleged conviction didn’t prevent her employment by a school district, Poleviyaoma countered, “Cindy Trujillo didn’t have to go through a background check to get her position.”

After showing Poleviyaoma a salary schedule for technology staff members, Bratton did get Poleviyaoma to acknowledge their raises were the result of increased work days and longer school year contracts. Bratton also produced a job announcement, dated May 25, 2006, that advertised the technology coordinator position for the Zuni schools. Bratton then got Poleviyaoma to admit the job announcement looked like Peery had indeed advertised Trujillo’s position, and Bratton dismissed the “whole flurry” of controversy over Trujillo’s hiring.

Berlin, however, produced another document and asked Poleviyaoma to describe it. The document was a job offer from Peery to Trujillo. Dated May 24, 2006, one day before the job announcement was supposedly released, the document sparked an audible reaction from spectators attending the hearing. Berlin then dramatically asked Poleviyaoma if she thought that would allow the opportunity for anyone else to apply for Trujillo’s position.

“No,” Poleviyaoma said.

The morning concluded with the testimony of Walter Feldman, the former ZPSD superintendent from 2004 to 2006. Berlin asked Feldman if he had any problems with any of the following ZPSD employees: William Becker, Jeanette Davis, Virginia R. Chavez, Karen Freedle, Caroline Ukestine, and Kate Brown.

Becker, Freedle, Ukestine, and Brown have already testified as witnesses for the Public Education Department. Davis and Chavez are upcoming witnesses. Feldman generally characterized all the individuals as good employees who were dedicated to the education of ZPSD students. Feldman described Chavez as a “conscientious employee,” said she worked hard and was never insubordinate, but he did say Chavez’s finance department was behind in its fiscal reporting. According to Feldman, Chavez worked hard to solve the problems, which he said were not entirely her fault.

The department was switching from one financial system to another, he said, but the problems were her responsibility as head of the department.

Responding to a March 8, 2008, written evaluation of Chavez that was presented by Bratton, Feldman said he and Chavez talked about the outlined improvements that he felt needed to be made in Chavez’s finance department. By the time he left the district in June 2008, Feldman said he thought Chavez had been working on those listed recommendations.

“I felt we were making progress,” said Feldman, who added he remembered telling the incoming Peery there was still work to be done in the finance department.

Under cross examination by Bratton, Feldman said he didn’t remember Kate Brown ever telling him that $100,000 of federal funds for one of her programs couldn’t be accounted for at that time — something Brown testified to earlier in the hearing and a problem that Bratton has repeatedly blamed on Chavez.

Chavez, now employed by the Zuni Tribe, was recently elected to the Zuni Board of Education. It was Chavez’s letter to Dr. Veronica Garcia, secretary of the Public Education Department, that helped spark the investigation into Peery.

The Independent is not able to offer complete coverage of all witness testimony during Peery’s administrative hearing.

However, the hearing is open to the public. It is scheduled to resume on Monday at 8:30 a.m.