Dallas ISD Board of Trustees, Open Meeting, November 18, 2010

Board of Trustees, Dr. Hinojosa:

My name is Carlos Tapia and I live at 10349 Carry Back Circle, Dallas TX 75229.

I am here because I agree with and fully support Dr. Blackburn’s revised draft to
Policy FFI (LOCAL) and because the full Board needs to know that actual bullying
and harassment – in violation of Policy DIA (LOCAL) - also happens against staff
employees. Yes, acts of harassment, retaliation, rumor spreading by supervisors
against subordinates, is alive and well within the District’s administration.

Let me explain such acts against me, as the target of constructive discharge and
false accusations that culminated on November 4, when Dr. Rodriguez came to my
office, not with a birthday card for my 61st birthday, but rather with the notice of my
immediate termination based on distorted facts and in violation of my rights to due
process. And to add insult to injury and further abusing her power, Dr. Rodriguez
has directed the district’s police to escort me several times from the district’s
premises, when I was strictly following the established visitor’s protocol, attempting
to recover my personal belongings and contact district employees in the Legal and
Accounting departments. Can you imagine a more obvious or blatant example of
bullying and intimidation?

Dr. Rodriguez' actions to distort my record of ten years as Director of

Compensation, in direct contradiction to all my previous performance evaluations,
left me with no alternative but to address you directly through this timely forum and
subject. And soon, through the District’s grievance process.

The true facts are as follows. When I started as the Director of Compensation for the
Dallas ISD in October of 2000, I brought with me twenty-five plus years of
knowledge, experience and credentials in the HR field working for recognized global
corporations. In DISD I have worked with other experienced HR colleagues, some of
whom stayed and others who left as a result of the constant changes of five
superintendents, and multiple supervisors in the finance and human resources
departments. Together, and with the expert advice and input of the HR-
Compensation consulting practice of Deloitte & Touche, we developed the
compensation guidelines, salary handbook and supplemental earnings handbook
that are in place today. While they are still a work in progress, and they are not
perfect, I am proud of the significant improvement over the system that I found
when I arrived.

I am proud of the key role and long hours that my team, colleagues and I have
played in the implementation of the multiple HR/Compensation/Payroll system
changes, from the old Delta system to the constant updates in Oracle.
Unfortunately, Dr. Rodriguez since her arrival has only distorted and painted all
those contributions as “a broken system”, with obvious disregard for the multiple
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contributions of top executives in this and previous administrations, TASB and the
HR consulting practice of Deloitte & Touche which helped us develop it. Since her
arrival, Dr. Rodriguez has slandered my ethical and professional integrity, orally in
front of my peers and in writing, which motivated my filing of a previous grievance
against her. I later withdrew the first grievance believing on her promise that she
would stop such behavior. I was wrong and now in an obvious act of retaliation, she
terminated my employment.

My team, my colleagues and I have made sincere efforts to cooperate with Dr.
Rodriguez, but it is difficult to work with someone who lacks the necessary Human
Resources experience for an organization as complex as Dallas ISD, distorts facts
and refuses to participate in discussions with substantive contributions for the
strategic direction of the District’s compensation matters. Sadly, this type of
behavior has been fully supported by her supervisors. As is often the case when
bullying is overlooked by the person in charge.

Throughout my now thirty-five years as a human resources professional, I have

always strived to maintain the highest standards of professionalism, ethics, and
integrity. Obviously these standards do not seem to apply to Dr. Rodriguez because,
as an example, on more than one occasion in meetings has jokingly referred to
what she calls “the Nacho principle”, in reference to the Board of Trustees' fiduciary
responsibility of the taxpayers' money.

I certainly recognize that my “straight shooting” style has sometimes ruffled

feathers in this and previous administrations when I have challenged the
entrenched culture of entitlement, lack of accountability, nepotism, inefficient work
practices and management by crisis. But these issues are too important to remain
silent and ignored by the Board of Trustees.

Thank you for your attention and for your often unappreciated public service to the
children of Dallas. I remain at your service if you are in need of additional
clarification about the detailed circumstances that brought me in front of you today.

In finishing my presentation, I want you to know that, in spite of the unpleasantness

of my termination and the fact that I have not been given any other alternative but
to use the internal grievance process to clear my good name and, if necessary,
present my case in the appropriate court of law, be assured that I will continue to
have as my highest priority the best interest of the district, its employees and the
children of Dallas.

Muchas gracias y buenas noches.

Carlos A. Tapia