I interviewed for a research/evaluation job at HISD (Houston Independent school district) a couple of years ago. During the interview, one of the questions I was asked was what I would do if I delivered some data or made a recommendation to my superiors, and they later ignored it or chose to do things in a different manner than i thought was correct, based on the original data. It was obvious then that what they were telling prospective employees was that "other" considerations were more important than the actual facts. The current news about HISD does not surprise me at all.
Really! Thanks for sharing the anecdote, depressing though it is.