Peery fumes under questioning

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Leslie Wood
For the Independent

GALLUP — Bruce Berlin, general counsel for the New Mexico Public Education Department, began his cross- examination of Zuni Superintendent Kaye L. Peery with a preface Saturday afternoon.

“There is nothing personal about this. I am doing my job,” Berlin told Peery about his upcoming questions about the allegations lodged against her by the PED and some concerned parents in the district. He said the six-week hearing had not been pleasant, and his cross-examination would continue to maintain that tone.

Peery testified for the second day about the complaints contained in the notice of contemplative action issued by the PED, which could strip her of her educational licensure and end her 30-year career in the field. Some of the claims include she engaged in abusive behavior toward employees, misused federal funds and school resources and wrongly hired her domestic partner.

“Isn’t it true that there was a petition by citizens to remove you as superintendent?” Berlin asked Peery about her previous superintendentship in Maxwell.

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