A VOTER SURVEYS THE BISD ELECTION PLACE 1 CANDIDATES

By Juan Montoya
She won't admit it when asked point blank. But people close to her say that it's true.
That just as Sylvia Atkinson was enticed to leave her quest for a seat on the Brownsville Independent School District after she was offered a $90,000 grants administrator position, Dr. Christina Saavedra was also offered a position when she announced for a trustee position.
In contrast to Atkinson, however, Saavedra refused to take the bait and launched her campaign for the Place 1 trustee position.
There are three other candidates in that race. They are Daniel Pena, Eric Garza and Otis Powers. Many believe Pena's candidacy is a non-starter because, although a good man, he doesn’t stand a chance with the voters because his sister-in-law is trustee Minerva Pena.
This time around in the election, they say, the community is absolutely fed up with voting blocks on the school board (and the hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal expenses they have created ). Relatives, apparently, are also out.
Likewise, another candidate with relatives issues is Otis Powers.
Promotions and big salaries for his family members during his previous tenure on the board cost him the election two years ago. He hasn’t had a chance to practice that dark art of nepotism lately, but he has managed to get himself accused of sign stealing and conspiring to fire the former superintendant.
He has been named in a federal lawsuit. Powers is counting on the amnesia vote in this election. But will his loyalists remember to vote?
The other candidates, Garza and Saavedra, are not well known, but are interesting to look at as a study in contrasts.
The two are at opposite ends of a spectrum. Saavedra has her doctorate (a real one) in education. She’s worked in a variety of administrative positions, in districts both big and small, meaning she knows her way around a school district. Currently, she’s enjoying her retirement and keeping her hand in education as a teacher.
Teaching? Teaching?
Former administrators usually have too much ego to teach. Could she be the real deal – a real educator?
Garza, at the other end of that spectrum, has no experience with the public education system except for a couple of months on a construction committee. He does point out that as a recent college graduate he would serve as a role model for students.
Who will the public select? In this race it’s hard to say, although a recent poll by an indpendent polling company places Saavedra with a prohibitive lead.
The shame of it is that the voters know too much bad stuff about some of the candidates, and not enough good stuff about the others.