The San Diego Unified School District’s new chief financial officer, Stan “Data” Dobbs has issued a public apology to members of the teachers union for comments he made in a Q-and-A with Voice of San Diego last month.
Dobbs made several inflammatory statements in the interview, two of which were later fact-checked. We found that he had mistaken his facts and we labeled one statement “huckster propaganda,” our harshest fact-check rating.
Here’s a snippet from Dobbs’ letter, which can be read in full here:
Immediately following the release of the article, I personally apologized to SDEA President, Bill Freeman, for the misinformation contained in the article. Bill told me then, and I agreed, that my apology should more appropriately be addressed to all SDEA members since the statements affected the entire membership.
I offer this apology sincerely and hope it doesn’t affect our continued relationship. I have worked with and supported teachers for years. I have great respect for the work you do in educating students and apologize that what was said in the interview did not reflect those beliefs.
Dobbs adds that he takes full responsibility for the content of the article, and writes that he has “put interview controls in place to ensure no such issues occur again.”
Will Carless is an investigative reporter at Voice of San Diego currently focused on local education. You can reach him at will.carless@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5670.
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