THE LONG GOODBYE

By Juan Montoya

After a fortnight of rejoicing at the Brownsville Independent School District's Adult Education (Hail Hail the Witch is gone!), the personnel at the Palm Boulevard and Elizabeth Street facility now has more reason to cheer.
Apparently, the bogus Dr. Oscar Cantu Sr. (and also Cantu Jr.) will be gone at the end of this school year.
Cantu Sr., who ran the department like a fiefdom, was unmasked by Gary Long of the Brownsville Herald for having acquired his PhD from a degree mill in England. In fact, so did his son, Oscar Jr. Both listed their bogus degrees as qualifications on their job applications for the positions they currently hold.
Then, in the wake of the revelations by Long in the Herald, the Cantus have apparently seen the writing on the wall that their reign of terror was over.
But before he goes, Cantu Sr. will have to answer to a number of grievances that his now-emboldened underlings have filed with the district. Besides the allegations of false qualifications, there are also charges that he made some of the personnel at Adult Education work at his home with the understanding that if they didn't their hours at the department might be reduced.
Sources tell us that attached to the grievance were affidavits from at least five people who say they worked at Cantu's home in support of the grievance filer.
After an initial rejection of the grievance, we now hear that an appeal is in the offing.
Meanwhile, other sources tell us that Cantu Jr., whose chestnuts have been pulled out of the fire by his benefactor Gracie De Pena (his mother-in-law) for philandering indiscretions while he was a principal at a district middle school is making applications elsewhere. Reportedly, the younger Cantu took liberties with a teacher under his supervision that resulted in one more citizen for the city's census count.
After the district obligingly paid him for a year's furlough for stress, the younger Cantu was back in the saddle applying (with his fake PhD) for the management position which he currently holds.
Still, regardless of what the employee handbook says about termination or dismissal because of using fake credentials on applications, the district after five years has refused to act on the matter. With the the Cantus leaving, the district now probably considers the subject moot.
"People are literally crying for joy that these two are leaving," said a source. "Cantu Sr. was a vain, egotistical tyrant. People feel free now that they know he will be gone."