This came in from Brownfield:
Brutus,
I have one thing to say about the austin hs indictments. I TOLD YOU SO! Please consider putting that up on your blog.
While the El Paso Times was running air cover for EPISD, I was telling the truth as I knew it. I feel vindicated and am enjoying the misery of those who were indicted.
-brownfield
elpasospeak 
We should also point out that with exception of one person, all of those people are FORMER EPISD employees. All were dismissed for their part in the cheating scandal. The news makes it sound as if all of them are still employed with the district.
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Who is Brownfield?
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He is/was a former blogger in El Paso who has since moved out of town. If I recall correctly the blog was named The Brownfield Empire.
Brutus
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Yeah, who is Brownfield? And, how come we never heard him/her telling us so?
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John G Dungan Sr
Believe their are a lot of people who know of Brownfield who have been around the El Paso blogosphere. Have met Brownfield in person and yes he has pointed out problems in EPISD and other issues in El Paso.
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Now Brownfield wants to make this story about him. He is totally wrong to say that the Times ran air cover for EPISD. The Times is not perfect, but Bob Moore and team jumped all over the EPISD problems early on and have hammered on EPISD for years. Brownfield left town. Maybe Brownfield expected the Times to also do the jobs of the EPISD employees, the EPISD board, and law enforcement. If it was so easy to shine a light on these problems, maybe Brownfield should have done more.
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Unfortunately, it was the EPISD board that ran air cover Garcia so this scandal could unfold by not listening to the teachers and letting Garcia have his own auditor. These people should be perp walked, too, except stupid isn’t a crime.
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That Board ran cover for themselves. They were so impressed with themselves and so pompous that they refused to have a scandal on their watch. They may not have been paid for their work but they were benefiting. Dodge, who was a mediocre engineer at best, got several lucrative “consulting” jobs as a result of his “prestigious” position on the school board.
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The Times got the Bradlee award. Keep in mind the Times once had a guy covering schools who ending up being a PR guy for a district that was run by one of the indicted. The Times also ran an editorial endorsing Terri Jordan for permanent superintendent, The Times printed almost verbatim a study that EPISD used your sacred tax dollars for. The story was in the wake of the Garcia scandal (when Jordan was the fill in super) and it was about how wonderful EPISD admin was because the teachers filled out surveys. Well as you now know…teachers were used to retaliation and that survey sure looked suspicious to them. Almost like it was a fishing expedition to find out who was ratting them out.
Did the Times do a great job with the FOIA process? Absolutely. Did the Times swallow…hook…line…and sinker the bs that the EPISD board was spewing? Yes they did….they didnt look into the board and what was going on with Cordova or Mena. They didnt look into the rampant rumors about Dr. Garcia and the poster lady…aka his mistress. Did they look into what happened with Dr. Ansel do nada? No. They were cheerleaders when Garcia was hired as super….and his first action was to threaten teachers at low performing schools. The Times cheered him on. I defended teachers at low performing schools….and suggested that EPISD rotate teachers from low performing school to work at high performing schools and vice versa in order to make a fair determination on who was a good teacher and who wasnt. That was on talk radio and Garcia just laughed at me. Meanwhile his little darlings went to a high performing school and I asked him if he would transfer his kids into low performing schools to show confidence in his improvement plan. More laughter.
As for today I read the reports of what the EPISD board and admin is saying. Same things they said after Dr. Ansel do nada left. Things are improving now….that is the past. Our future is bright going forward. Nothing put empty platitudes and a dismissal of the concerns raised by the so called “watchdogs”. The watchdogs in El Paso were not the media nor law enforcement….it was people willing to speak out,,,knowing that retaliation was in play.
I posted a lot of stuff and specifically mentioned retaliation and false attendance….that isnt me…it was the people who experienced it first hand. They went to the media and were dismissed. I took it upon myself to write about it to (dumbly) hope that the media would pick up on it and put enough heat on EPISD to make them take the accusations of retaliation and attendance fudging seriously.
Think about who lead the Times into investigation mode. It was a very powerful man in El Paso…..Eliot Shapleigh. You think the media would have delved into this without Shap? Hell,do you think the El Paso FBI would have done anything if Shap didnt contact the President of the United States?
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We should remember that until these folks are tried or plead guilty, they are presumed innocent…or at least that was once the idea.
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Helen Marshall
Yes you are right! From the saints to the sinners every one deserves due process, a vigorous defense and when denied it hurts and effects all of us.
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Most will cop a plea, if not they will look at a long time in prison
.
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Stillinger and Darnell are representing some of them. Do you hire those kind of lawyers to plead out? I
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brownfield
We also know it’s common for the FBI to pile on charges in the hope that one at least will stick and a lot of times many of the charges will be thrown out with a good lawyer and a vigorous defense.
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So Brown Eye. What do you want, a medal?
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I will settle for a conquistador award! If I ask nicely can you make it happen?
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