Monday, February 13, 2017

TSC COMPLAINT: CUT OUR NOSE TO SPITE OUR FACE

(The Brownsville Herald has run two front-page articles on the complaint filed against the board of trustees of Texas Southmost College with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' Commission on Colleges. In neither of the articles did the newspaper identify the complainers. Unless you have the actual documents, you would never have learned reading the paper that it was current board member Dr. Reynaldo Garcia and former TSC trustee Rene Torres. The duo wants the COC to sanction the board and quite possibly, remove TSC's accreditation. The post below gives one of their reasons why. You be the judge.)  

By Juan Montoya
We still remember the campaign push cards local attorney Ruben Herrera handed out when he ran a successful race for trustee of Texas Southmost College.
Herrera – the top vote getter in the 2016 election – handily beat Daniel PizaƱa with 73 percent of the vote.
His cards emphasized that he was the product of TSC's policy to provide accessible and affordable second chances to non-traditional students. He recalled that when he was working on  apolitical campaign, he met an attorney from San Antonio who encouraged him to go to school and perhaps even try to get a law degree.

It took me six years attending TSC in the evenings, but I did and then I went to law school," he recalled recently.
During the campaign for trustee, Herrera promised he would make every effort to provide non-traditional students a rung up on the education ladder.

We say this because of the recent complaint filed with SACS-COC, the college's accreditation agency, by current trustee Dr. Reynaldo Garcia and former trustee Rene Torres. They claimed, among other things, that Herrera was getting involved in the administration of the college and blurring the lines between governance and administrative functions.

And what was this crime that Torres and Garcia claim Herrera committed?
The two transcribed the minutes of the June 22, 2016 board meeting where Herrera made a motion that then-TSC president Lily Tercero "implement a CCD plan to accommodate non-traditional students by the Fall semester. What does this mean? This means that we are going to accommodate a class or two in the Fall semester and a class or two in the Spring semester and two for the summer for the non-traditional students. It's not a cohort, it's not a new program. It's the same program you have, just at hours non-traditional students can attend. That is what I'm asking for sand this is the motion on the table."

This infuriated Garcia, who chided Herrera for "stepping outside our (board's) boundaries as far as our duties as a board member to administer. We are supposed to set policy, accept the budget anbd hire the president. But we are dictating curriculum here?"

In the discussion that followed, with Garcia argued with vice-chair Trey Mendez and TSC attorney Frak Perez. Medez countered tnat the way he heard it "I don't think we're dictating curriculum. I think it's just an addition of another class."

Garcia, who appointed himself the role of Tercero's gallant defender, called on Perez to give his legal opinion on whether the motion was appropriate and he thought it infringed on the purview of the president. He then tried to lecture Herrera, who was attending his first TSC board meeting.

"Ok?" Get this straight, please. The administration is supposed to advise what to do. We hire them to do that. Run the curriculum and run the instruction program. Not you or I,  Ok? This is not your duty. You need to understand that as a new board member, before you request things from the administration. Ok?...I think you are coming on too strong in your first meeting personally."

Perez, always the diplomat, said that what he heard gave him the impression that "the idea, now the direction, the policy direction, should also be geared toward the non-traditional students...We want to, if the board wants to direct the policy to also gear towards non-traditional students, that's a tremendous thing, Ok?

Image result for rene torres, TSC"Always keeping in mind what the function of the board is, which is to direct policy, versus to direct the function of the administration, which is to implement the policy. So, I don;t think there is anything wrong with the discussion we're having here. I think it's a very good discussion. I think it's legally appropriate for for us to have. I think it is something that will allow the college to grow. And I think that the discussion that we just had is appropriate."

Torres and Garcia, apparently not satisfied that Tercero got a fair shake from the board when she was terminated, opted for filing the complaint against their fellow board members, and TSC, with the agency responsible for its accreditation. Their aim? If taken to its logical conclusion, that would be the removal of accreditation from the college, a task that took Tercero and boards of trustees three years to achieve.

As we said at the top, that is like cutting your nose to spite your face. Can these two gents actually prefer to remove TSC's accreditation over a difference of opinion because things didn't go their way? What about the students, staff and faculty, and most of all, the taxpayers of the community college district? Is it worth harming them for your capricho?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are right Adela Garza and Ruben Herrera did cut their nose to spite their face for a capricho by firing Tercero. They got rid of Tercero for a bullshit reason just so they could have full control of hiring, firing and contracts. The only problem is that Tercero is the only one who fully understood the Accreditation requirements and commitments and now there is no leadership and not a single person at TSC understands accreditation. What a bunch of clowns.

Anonymous said...

A picture says more than a 1000 words,from the old's man pic you can deduct some senil dementia and gayness,he is mad because the board won't give his lover kiko a job.

Anonymous said...

TSC is screwed thanks to its Board of Trustees that fired the only people who had a full grasp of accreditation. They fired the President, the Vice-President of Instruction and the consultant that was an expert on accreditation and now no one is in charge of accreditation. TSC is going to fail and the Board of Trustees is too clueless to realize it is happening because of their actions.

Anonymous said...

TSC is a rudderless ship.

Anonymous said...

If the conversations quoted here from the individuals involved came from transcripts, then I am embarrassed by these fucking peasants. They can't form correct sentences that educated folk would form. And these are the idiots, morons in charge of an institution that is to educate our people in the lower valley? Fuvkimh peasants all of them. Am embarrassed.

Anonymous said...

Are you against TSC ? and in favor of the incompetents like Dr. Garcia

Anonymous said...

Shame on you Dr. Garcia

Anonymous said...

To the person that posted at 3:05 pm, the current issues with the TSC board do not vindicate the former President and former VP of Instruction. They both are still responsible for the ADN Nursing program losing its accreditation, as well as all of the other moronic things they both did.

The fromer VP of Instructor is still hanging around TSC as an instructor being paid $90,000 a year, stirring up trouble and hoping to somehow manuver to get her job back, either by threatening to sue or getting her friends on the board threatening people to save her. What a waste of money. She needs to get some self-respect and take a hint. Bye Felicia!!!


Anonymous said...

Good day Brownsvillians . Beware of Mr Herpes preying on women. Beware of Wichango and the drunken gossip that is 50% accurate at times. Beware of the clerks husband drinking Bourbon and asaulting men accross our town. May God Bless our city and rid it of corruption Herpes gossip and bullying.

Anonymous said...

William Garza and Ben Neece are running for commissioners. apurale pinch Juan! you take too fucking long.

Anonymous said...

Sometime ago, one of the trustees asked me what I thought about the TSC/UTB split. I replied that it was the dumbest thing these shitheads had done. Talk about a bonehead move. These dumbasses never saw the big picture. They thought they were "socking it" to the UT System, but instead they ended up "socking it" to our local student population. Bola de Punetas el Kiko, Trey, Adela y los demas pendejos. In the end, the students were the ones left holding the proverbial "bag" because these clowns wanted to pound their chest and show Austin who was in charge. Hazme el favor! Babosetes, all of them.

Anonymous said...

... continuing fallout from the mess that was self-created. Brought to you by Adela, Kiko, Rene and Trey!

Anonymous said...

Awwww, Captain Bob likes to comment on faults and defects of people. Maybe you should take a minute and anylize yours. Someone stole your woman, your business sucks, you are a smelly drunk (smell like pee), you've been beat up and assault who knows how many ways because of your BIG mouth. The city has more equilibrium: there isn't one wise Ol' Captian Bob and 200K citizens that have herpes, gossip and bully persons. I believe all you complain about are issues your inner self faces. God Bless you and here is a suggestion for you maybe instead of captain you should use pirate. Pirate fits so much better! Leave the citizens alone and fix you faults before you fix others.

Anonymous said...

Juan, nothing to fear. If the board majority did not vialate at least five core requirements of accreditation, why are your feathers being ruffled. Soon SACSCOC was going to discover this mess during their follow up and by then it would be too late to salvage the accreditation. By reporting it, they can now assist in salvaging it. SACSCOC is not in the business of removing accreditation but in granting it. Juan,learn to tell it like it is, and not put your own favoite spin on it just to sansationalize your blog.

rita