Tuesday, January 17, 2017

SCHOOL CLOSINGS, FLAWED PURCHASING PROCESS AT BISD

By Juan Montoya
There will be plenty of fireworks at today's meeting of the board of the Brownsville Independent School District.
RESACA, CUMMINGS AND LONGORIA SCHOOL CLOSINGS:
41. Discussion regarding a board resolution against the consolidating and/or closing of any school for the 2017-2018 school year without first receiving a comprehensive plan detailing budgets, alternatives, sufficient public input, notice, etc. (Board Member Request)
The board will consider the recommendation

The board member (not identified) who placed this item on the agenda probably did so at the request of parents and students who attend/or attended these schools. The administration has advocated the closing of these schools without announcing what plans, alternatives to closings, did not seek public input or gave notice of the plans to close them.

Hopefully, a majority of the board can get enough public support at tonight's meeting to force the administration and a board majority to make the process more transparent and accountable to the parents and students before launching such a drastic plan as closing a school.

APPROVAL OF DONATIONS OF 28 STUDENT RINGS WORTH $25,060
15. Recommend approval to accept $25,060.00 from Herff Jones for the donation of 28 student rings given to the Porter Early College High School 5A State Championship team.

On its face, this would seem to be a no-brainer. Why would the district not accept a donation from a vendor?
Could it be that there were additional rings in addition to the contract with Herff Jones ordered by a board member (Joe Rodriguez?) without asking the principal or the administration for the authority or if there was money in their budget to order them? Lately, Rodriguez has been said to be getting involved in the purchasing process at the BISD and at times has tried to steer the district's business toward selected vendors.

As we understand, there was not enough money in the budget at Porter on in the district to pay for the additional rings, and rather than explain why the rings were ordered (and by who), the vendor would rather donate them to the district without charge. If something seems to good to be true, it probably is. In a Level 3 grievance to be heard today, former Veterans Memorial High School principal Mary Solis is charging that Rodriguez was urging her to purchase graduation products (rings?) from Herff Jones. Why?

Who ordered the additional rings? Was there a purchase order issued for their acquisition from the vendor aside from the initila one? Were normal purchasing procedures followed in the ordering of the rings? If not, why not? Has Joe Rodriguez become Brownsville's Lord of the Rings?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ese Joe es pura tranza!
Purchasing is Cesar's cup of tea.
Wink, wink.
Otro tranza...
Keep an eye on those two.
What about all the fundraising g , car wishes and donations the players were doing??? Who kept that money?

Anonymous said...

WHAT DOES IT TAKE for TEA or the Feds to get involved?
In your previous article about Ms. Solis; she is a nice lady BUT, she became that "rising star" by being friends with principals and Deans plus previous supers. She go to Veteran's the same way the current Veteran's principal, because of internal conflicts. The administrators KNOW how THEIR game is played so they play it until it hits them and they don't like it because a high school principal does not get paid the same as a middle school principal and like everything, it affects the POCKET.
The school closings is not a new idea or a new thing. It was brought up some yrs. back that schools like Resaca, Victoria Hights did not have enough students because of the reduction of children living in the downtown area. Now, I think it's more because of the loss of student population to the Charter schools. Harmony, IDEA and Athos are "killing" BISD, but hey, they are up for an HEB award and they will probably get it.

Anonymous said...

Question: Is there UIL rules regarding the school district purchasing rings or other items for student achievements? I believed that students of state championships of prior years had to purchase their own championship rings in order to comply with UIL rules.

Anonymous said...

My child goes to Resaca and we are going fight to keep the school open.

Anonymous said...

We just found out that they want to close our school Resaca we as parents are going to go and protest

Anonymous said...

I often worry about those students whom are high achievers and get very little (sometimes no) recognition. Where are the rings for Valedictorians and Salutatorians? Why when schools are closing and teachers are scarce does this district continue to shuffle so much money into athletics? Consider this: the cost associated with outfitting a player for a given sport, the cost of transport (busing) to and from games/practice beyond school hours, and the stipends paid to coaches....would we as a district ever embrace the idea of having parents of athlete players pay part of the fees for uniforms or to transport to/from.....then redirected the monies saved to aid in educational support tools for the remainder of the student population who might benefit? I think it's time to refocus our priorities in terms of what it truly means to "educate the children of this community". Maybe a few parents have had enough opting to transfer to charter/private or parochial schools who will lend more attention the educational needs of their students.

Anonymous said...

It's bullshit they really don't want to close down all those it's a ruse to throw public off they really want Cummings because of the Zoo

Anonymous said...

It's a load of shit all money thrown on athletes and band, so much money in busing, feeding, clothing them for what? who really recognized the real high achievers who spend their time studying to keep their grades up? what about those students who really complete HS and go to college? they are not even spending 1/4 of what they spend in foot ball and band. Now wanting to close schools, people wake up and fight for the real priorities not just a game or a band concert, get your kids educated, foot ball wont pay their bills in the future, college will.

Anonymous said...

The rules changed this year. Districts may buy a state championship ring for the student-athletes now.

Anonymous said...

Athletics is why some students stay in school and graduate. Without these extra curricular activities we would have fewer graduates and more young people without an education. Athletics is a very small percentage of the overall budget in the district.

rita