He also denies all of the accusations against him. He doesn't favor Hispanic employees and denies having asked Johnson and other teachers with Anglo last names, including Mitchell, to go by their initials or maiden names. "That's ludicrous," he says. As for the claim that he wouldn't allow Mendez to pump breast milk, he calls it "a lie." Martinez is adamant that he's never kicked a student out of school, including the boy whose mother claims he was booted after she told Martinez that her son wouldn't be returning the following year. "She pulled him out," Martinez says.
In fact, he chalks up the complaints and the lawsuits and the calls to the health department to sour grapes. "Sometimes when I have to make hard decisions and I have to fire someone or let someone go, it hurts people's egos," he says. "And so now, [they say], 'I want to get back at this school. I'm going to say these lies.'
anthony camera
Marcos Martinez opened Ricardo Flores Magón Academy in 2007.
anthony camera
Claudia Mitchell was fired from her job at the academy in 2009.
Details
Related Content
More About
"What this comes down to is there's people who are unhappy with the way the school is run or they don't get their way, or whatever it is, and they lash out."
In theory, Martinez is supervised by the school's board of directors, which has also experienced some turnover. The only long-serving member who returned phone calls was Arthur Silva, who also happens to be Martinez's stepfather. "We made a decision a long time ago that we'd be a high-performing school," Silva says. "There are expectations." As for Martinez's behavior, he says, "I don't believe I've ever dealt with an issue of Marcos being overbearing. We do have strict curricula. We know these children are going to be successful if it's applied. At what point do you compromise your academics or methodologies because some people feel differently about it?"
In addition, board president Virginia Longoria sent a statement. It's the board's duty to investigate any complaints about the school, including those made to the Charter School Institute. In her statement, Longoria points out that RFMA is actually subject to greater scrutiny than other schools because, unlike a school district, the board has just one school to oversee.
"RFMA's success is due in large part to its relentless commitment to its 'no excuses' guiding principle," Longoria writes. "RFMA applies this standard not only to the students but also to the school's administration and its teachers.... If a teacher or an administrator is not 100 percent committed to that standard, then RFMA will find another teacher or administrator who is. This means that RFMA has had to hold teachers accountable, including terminating some who failed to meet the standard."
She adds, "The RFMA board is aware of and has investigated the concerns raised in this newspaper article. The RFMA board invites any person with concerns about the school to attend the next board meeting so they can discuss their concerns with the board.
"So far, however, many of these individuals have refused to meet with Mr. Martinez or even appear before the RFMA board. Unfortunately, many of these individuals won't even put their names behind their complaints."
The last sentence of the statement is this: "The RFMA board stands behind Mr. Martinez and his excellent track record of successful dedication to RFMA's students."
******
All of the teachers and parents who spoke to Westword say they tried to complain to the Charter School Institute but got nowhere. "Every time I would call, they'd give me the roundabout," says the former teacher who was fired for being late. "They'd patch me through to voice mail, I'd leave messages, and no one would call me back. The first person who answered, I'd unload on them, and they didn't want to hear it. They didn't want to be part of the drama. I'm thinking they were feeling overwhelmed."
The institute's current policy on complaints includes a color-coded flow chart that shows the proper way to respond. Teacher issues, for instance, should be re-routed back to the school's administration, it says; if there's still no resolution, the institute can send the school a "notice of concern" and ask administrators and the school's board — which, for charter schools, functions much like a district school board — to respond.
But that chart is new.
Before this year, the institute, which currently has 22 schools on its roster, had little in the way of policies and procedures about complaints, finances or staff responsibilities. "It was just scattered. You didn't know who was doing what, and the schools felt that," says Ethan Hemming, the institute's new deputy executive director. "When they called, they'd get different information."
Part of the reason is that the founding boardmembers had no blueprints to follow. "It really is a case of building an airplane while you fly it," says Alex Medler, one of the first boardmembers and a national charter-school law expert. "Did we not have the right tools? No, we certainly didn't. Were we working to create them? You bet."
One of the first things the board did was hire an executive director, Randy DeHoff, who at the time also served on the State Board of Education — which some saw as a conflict of interest, since the state board is ultimately responsible for disciplining the institute. While the institute's current administrators are hesitant to point fingers, they say several decisions made during his tenure led the organization down a chaotic path.
