ESCOBEDO EMERGING AS SOBER HELMSMAN FOR THE BISD

By Juan Montoya
Despite a brutal media campaign against him in the last election, constant sniping from anonymous critics questioning his credentials, and his disciplined refusal to lash out at his tormentors, Enrique Escobedo has emerged as the anchor of the Brownsville Independent School District Board of Trustees as it forges a path away from the business-as-usual-approach of past boards.
Now, as the district starts to set a course that will address critical administrative functions such as fiscal responsibility and a legal counsel that will assist it in setting a direction for its new agenda, he has become the linchpin of change.
"Ever since the last election, we all knew that then-superintendent Brett Springston was only there temporarily, as was Chief Financial Officer Tony Fuller and other top-level administrators," said a district staffer. "In a very real sense, the superintendent, CFO and the firm providing legal counsel to the board were all on an interim basis."
At 1 p.m. Thursday during a specially-called meeting at the BISD Administration Building,
1900 Price Road, the board plans to firlmy set the direction it wants when it considers replacing its legal counsel.

The board will consider General Function Item 1, "the discussion, consideration and possible action to terminate interim legal services provided by Thompson and Horton, L.L.P.
The board will also enter into "2. Discussion, consideration and possible action to approve the hiring of Legal Interim Services from one of the Law Firms previously submitting their resume and meeting the qualification and needs of Brownsville Independent School District Board of Trustees. "
And finally, in Item 3, the board will hear the administration "recommend approval of (Request For Proposals) RFQ #12-022 for Forensic Audit Services."
These three items will serve as a foundation for the direction that the BISD will take in the years to come. When the board approved the hiring of Thompson and Horton as interim legal counsel in December 2010, it did so after terminating its contract with Walsh, Anderson, Brown, Aldridge & Gallegos, P.C, because of what board members said were mounting complaints of excessive legal fees.
Board chairperson Catalina Presas-Garcia said that the board’s previous majority had simply told members which law firm it was hiring. She referred to the Navarro law firm of Harlingen, which prosecuted the case against former superintendent Hector Gonzales. In recent years, she said, the board had spent $3.9 million on legal fees.

"We're not a wealthy district," she said then. "It was just way too much."
Now, with school out, interim superintendent Carl Montoya and interim Chief Financial Officer Ismael Garia guiding the board to a successful passage of a balance budget that did not lay off teachers, raise taxes, or dip into the reserves fund as previous boards had done, many feel the board feels its time to establish some permanence before the start of school this fall.
"These fundamental changes are going to be done when there is the least institutional disruption of the district," said the BISD staffer. "The students won't be disturbed and neither will the teachers or the support staff. When school starts, everything should be firmly in place."

Many credit Escobedo for maintaining the board on an even keel.

For example, when the more rash members of the board's majority pressed for the quick removal of former superintendent Springston in the first meetings after the election that shifted the majority away from the Rolando Aguilar and Joe Colunga when they were part of the majority along with Rick Zayas and Ruben Cortez, Escobedo counseled for more a more deliberate course.

"Because of Enrique's reluctance to move too fast on the Springston matter, Springston left on his own," she said. "Instead of having to pay millions in legal fees and hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy him out, it didn't cost the district a cent. Now the trustees can have a superintendent of their own choosing without having to spend the public's money to defend themselves against a costly grievance or lawsuit."

Likewise, by voting to approve the hiring of a firm to perform a forensic audit on the district's spending the last three years, Escobedo has opted to let the findings speak for themselves instead of making decisions based on assumptions of wrongdoing by BISD employees or former board members.

"In the past the former boards shot first and asked questions later," she asserted. "By allowing the forensic investigative team to probe and then to present their findings to the board for their action, the board will have factual evidence to proceed against those which the evidence indicates were involved in potential criminal acts."

With the district obviously setting the course away from the Zayas-Cortez-Colunga-Aguilar style of management, many are now saying the member who played a key role in catapulting the BISD toward a new direction has been none other than Escobedo.

"He is not the loudest member of the board, nor is he the most quiet," said our source. "But his decisions on important issues like those to be considered by the board this Thursday will probably determine the moral compass of the district for decades to come."