By Juan Montoya
Will the current majority on the board finally put an end to the torrent of litigation that landed the district in federal and state district courts as a result of the previous board majority's actions?
One of the items on tonight's board agenda is the continued payment of of $9,145.48 to Walsh, Anderson, Brown, Gallegos and Green, P.C. (AKA Mike Saldaña), for his representation of the district in the lawsuit filed against HealthSmart, the former third-party insurance provider.
Saldaña, who mastered the art of dragging out litigation until it couldn't possibly be squeezed for any more loot as legal counsel for the previous board majority, is still getting the district's dollars as the case drags on.
The case against HealthSmart was supposed to focus on alleged overcharges when the claims totalled $41 million and Johnny Cavazos' MAA was chosen to provide the service instead. At the time, trustee Rolando Aguilar claimed that the district stood to save $9 million a year from the new and improved deal.
However, the latest projections under MAA indicate that the 2011-2012 year will see costs spiral above $51 million, a fr cry from the promised $9 million in savings touted by Aguilar.
The decision by the board's majority under Rick Zayas, Aguilar, Ruben Cortez, and Joe Colunga opted to sue HealthSmart came scant weeks before the board elections where Zayas and Cortez were fighting for their political lives. If it was meant to push them over the top, it did not work as both went down to ignominious defeat, Zayas by Lucy Longoria, and Cortez by Enrique Escobedo.
But, as the case drags through the courts with no end in sight, the one profiting from the political maneuver seem to be the attorneys, particularly Saldaña.
Depending on what the trustees decide in their executive session on the item titled : b. Discussion and consideration of litigation, including Antonio Juarez vs. BISD, Art
Rendon vs. BISD, and BISD vs. HealthSmart, the start of the end to the litigation gravy train might be set in motion tonight.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
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8 comments:
Mr. Editor, keep on digging, more feces is bound to come up. Ernie Hernandez, is going to be a one time commissioner.
There is no way the BISD Trustees can undo the "more ass" of previous boards. Corruption or special favoe is the reason the board members seek office. If education was the key element, we wouldn't have so many BISD grads who can't read and write.
and Bobby continues to degfend corruption and malfeasance when is that going to end at BISD? It has already ended no more corruption,no compadrismo and no looting of BISD funds. Thank you Dr. Saavedra, Dr. Escobedo, Ms. Presas and Ms. Longoria.
The time to end all this corruption is NOW! We finally got a majority on the Board that WILL do what's in the best interest of the children and employees in BISD. Hip hip hooray for Cata, Luci, Christy and Enrique! Make examples of all that have falsified reports, lied, and cost our district money! Tyrants beware! The Board will not allow the employees to be mistreated or the district to be robbed by underhandedness such as what happened at one of the Middle Schools! I'm sure we all know which one.
The mistreatment came from the teachers towards students and against the district. Those teachers were not signing in and leaving school during the school day to go run their errands. All this while their titere Nunez ran cover for them. Corruption is "those" teachers and Nunez meeting with Cata presas and her promoting wrong doings in the district. We all saw it first hand, and all the pruincipal tried to do was put a stop to it. Call her what you will, she was enforcing our board policy that you are supposed to stand for Cata! You go Cata, ruin more schools, and cover up the corruption of your friends at that middle school. I'm sure the ousted principal is counting her blessings for getting out of this dump.
November 2012.......see ya!
You all!
Here is my opinion:
I thank the present Board because they have been able to get rid of some fat cats, did not increase tax,get rid of some fat some fat cats, balance the budget, get rid of more fat cats. Thank you Present Board and Dr. Montoya.
The time for political and legal morass has just begun. We have a new keeper of the swamps and she ain't holding back. Funny thing is, we and a few other districts have been fed upon before.
Bola de Pendejos y Pendejas! Wait until all the dust settles. Grievences and then lawsuits abound. Do you think for one minute that all these moves were for the betterment of our district? Unit 12! Have you heard? A pool of about 50 teachers that will be floating around and if they are not placed by years end, they're gone! I thought the board had claimed that they had burned the midnight oil to save jobs and millions? Bunch of liars! There was so much fat to trim from the big departments, (Atheletics, Maintenance, Transportation) and what? Nothing! They take away paid vacation days from the priveledged few and end up giving them back! Why should these people get paid vacation days, nobody else does? The shits gonna get bad, you ain't seen nothing yet. But then, what do you expect from an unemployed secretary trying to run a beast of this size!
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