By Juan Montoya
How things change when people decide to run for office and forget what kind of trail they have left behind them.
Such is the case with former Brownsville Independent School District trustee Ruben Cortez, the ultimate political animal is there ever was one. He is now, of all things, running for a spot on the Texas State Board of Education.
His slogan of "Keeping politics out of the classroom," is an insult to anyone's intelligence. This is why.
Cortez, who was decisively beaten by Enrique Escobedo in the 2011- BISD elections after the electorate decided they had had enough of him and his fellows on the board's majority as they quickly set about to reverse the gains that this suffering border district's teachers and students had sacrificed so hard to attain.
Long known as an under-performing district, under Superintendent Hector Gonzales, the BISD went on to win the coveted Broad Award which recognized its improvements over other competitors in the entire United States. The $1 million Broad Prize (increased to $2 million in student scholarships in the BISD's case), was established in 2002 and is the largest education award in the country given to school districts. The Broad Prize is awarded each year to honor urban school districts that demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among low-income and minority students.
How things change when people decide to run for office and forget what kind of trail they have left behind them.
Such is the case with former Brownsville Independent School District trustee Ruben Cortez, the ultimate political animal is there ever was one. He is now, of all things, running for a spot on the Texas State Board of Education.
His slogan of "Keeping politics out of the classroom," is an insult to anyone's intelligence. This is why.
Cortez, who was decisively beaten by Enrique Escobedo in the 2011- BISD elections after the electorate decided they had had enough of him and his fellows on the board's majority as they quickly set about to reverse the gains that this suffering border district's teachers and students had sacrificed so hard to attain.
Long known as an under-performing district, under Superintendent Hector Gonzales, the BISD went on to win the coveted Broad Award which recognized its improvements over other competitors in the entire United States. The $1 million Broad Prize (increased to $2 million in student scholarships in the BISD's case), was established in 2002 and is the largest education award in the country given to school districts. The Broad Prize is awarded each year to honor urban school districts that demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among low-income and minority students.
Then the majority set about a construction binge that plunged the districts $128 million reserves into only $68 million which was used to offset the consecutive budget deficits that resulted from their excesses. In two short years, Cortez and his buddies on the board literally took the district from "Broad to Broke."
Shortly thereafter, the Council of Urban Boards of Education Annual Award was 
given to the BISD for the board and administration's performance in raising the district's level of instruction. It ain't nothing to sneeze at.
CUBE represents more than 100 urban school districts in 35 states and the Virgin Islands. Our member districts educate more than 7.5 million students, in over 12,000 schools, with a collective budget of approximately $99 billion.
The judges of the CUBE look at a district's superintendent and the board as an example of a good working relationship. This does not imply a utopian working environment – but rather that the focus is on student achievement gains in the district, and not the personalities involved.The national panel of judges – with figures showing the BISD's improvements – chose the district above all others. The BISD was the shining mansion on the hill.
All that changed two months later when Cortez and the new board majority decided they wanted to change a couple of things they saw wrong in the district. As the holder of only a high school diploma, he didn't flinch when his new majority decided they didn't want that superintendent (who held a PhD) around anymore because he wasn't making the "right" decisions " on a number of issues.
So they fired him.
And when the Chief financial Officer recommended that the district award the BISD's lucrative Stop-Loss insurance contract to a company that was not the choice of the majority (Cortez, Rick Zayas, Joe Colunga, Rolando Aguilar), they accused him of misinforming the board and gave the superintendent an ultimatum to either fire the CFO or face firing himself.
Using a byzantine system of having some employees file grievances against others to give the majority the justification to terminate them, they are accused in at least one ongoing federal lawsuit and another in state court of conspiracy to manipulate the administrative and political process to get their way.
So out went the CFO as well.
But, before they could give him the ax, the CFO had gone to the FBI and the U.S Attorney with his sordid tale of a conspiracy among the board and some district employees to rig the bids and of retaliation complete with tape recordings and affidavits from some of the participants to prove it.
As of today, Cortez and the members of the majority at the time have been denied qualified immunity from the charges of bid-rigging and retaliation in the federal lawsuit.
Rather than fight a losing battle with the former head of the Special Needs Department in another federal lawsuit in federal court who had also become a target of the Cortez majority, the district decided to cut its losses and settle his lawsuit. That administrator is now back with the district.
The details in those lawsuits give lie to the claims by the now forgetful Cortez, that his tenure on the BISD board was marked by blatant political favoritism and retaliation against those that stood in his way. It didn't matter that the long-suffering BISD district would end up getting blemished as a result of his actions. To him, it was just collateral damage on his way to higher office.
given to the BISD for the board and administration's performance in raising the district's level of instruction. It ain't nothing to sneeze at.CUBE represents more than 100 urban school districts in 35 states and the Virgin Islands. Our member districts educate more than 7.5 million students, in over 12,000 schools, with a collective budget of approximately $99 billion.
The judges of the CUBE look at a district's superintendent and the board as an example of a good working relationship. This does not imply a utopian working environment – but rather that the focus is on student achievement gains in the district, and not the personalities involved.The national panel of judges – with figures showing the BISD's improvements – chose the district above all others. The BISD was the shining mansion on the hill.
All that changed two months later when Cortez and the new board majority decided they wanted to change a couple of things they saw wrong in the district. As the holder of only a high school diploma, he didn't flinch when his new majority decided they didn't want that superintendent (who held a PhD) around anymore because he wasn't making the "right" decisions " on a number of issues.
So they fired him.
And when the Chief financial Officer recommended that the district award the BISD's lucrative Stop-Loss insurance contract to a company that was not the choice of the majority (Cortez, Rick Zayas, Joe Colunga, Rolando Aguilar), they accused him of misinforming the board and gave the superintendent an ultimatum to either fire the CFO or face firing himself.
Using a byzantine system of having some employees file grievances against others to give the majority the justification to terminate them, they are accused in at least one ongoing federal lawsuit and another in state court of conspiracy to manipulate the administrative and political process to get their way.
So out went the CFO as well.
But, before they could give him the ax, the CFO had gone to the FBI and the U.S Attorney with his sordid tale of a conspiracy among the board and some district employees to rig the bids and of retaliation complete with tape recordings and affidavits from some of the participants to prove it.
As of today, Cortez and the members of the majority at the time have been denied qualified immunity from the charges of bid-rigging and retaliation in the federal lawsuit.
Rather than fight a losing battle with the former head of the Special Needs Department in another federal lawsuit in federal court who had also become a target of the Cortez majority, the district decided to cut its losses and settle his lawsuit. That administrator is now back with the district.
The details in those lawsuits give lie to the claims by the now forgetful Cortez, that his tenure on the BISD board was marked by blatant political favoritism and retaliation against those that stood in his way. It didn't matter that the long-suffering BISD district would end up getting blemished as a result of his actions. To him, it was just collateral damage on his way to higher office.
(We have just learned that Cortez pushed and elbowed his way to a seat on the congressional candidates forum in Hidalgo County until supporters of Celeste Zarate Sanchez questioned why he should be given soapbox when it was limited to congressional candidates. We understand that he has vowed to do the same in the congressional forum to be held in Cameron County today. Sanchez's supporters have promised to prevent him crashing the congressional party at all costs.)
9 comments:
I wonder if Lucy Longoria had to pay $700.00 for this to be written. If it was you were robbed this should have cst at least 1000.00
Hector Gonzalez did not have a PHD.
Among the blog sites El RRUN RRUN has justly gained the reputation of printing fabricated misinformation to confuse anyone who happens to come across the site. This article is a prime example. To blame Cortez for BISD's problems is totally ludicrous. The current majority has done more damage in one year than any sitting board for the previous two decades. I wish that Juan Montoya would use his investigative skills to divulge truth rather than articles bought and paid for. He needs to candidly evaluate BISD and the current politics being impemented by the vindictive majority. On a different note, Cortez made little impact while on BISD's board, and realistically has no chance of being elected to the state board. He will fail by his own lack of merit.
It's hard to belive that a fruitcake like cortez has no apparent shame. He is in a class all by himslef. Shamless, no education, no employment and wants to follow the path of a E. Hernandez. What a shame and what an Idiot
Gonzalez didn't do shit to get the Broad award.
It was given to BISD based on Dr. Z's tenure at BISD....
Ho-hum... Needed beer money, did you?
You Sir are completely delusional. Prior to taking any action, the case was reviewed by TASB and TASB agreed with the findings submitted by Cortez and Zayas. The real issue was the overcharges by HealthSmart. Cortez set out to expose HealthSmart, but HealthSmart made sure that Cortez and Zayas were defeated so the lawsuit against them would not move forward. These are the facts.
You sir are a fool! What in the hell are you talking about...TASB, findings..........Health Smart........You sir are a nut along with zayas and cortez....thank you sir.
Juan Montoya was one of the organizers of the DefeatZayasCortezPowers P.A.C. along with Pat Lehmann, Ben Neece and Carlos Quintanilla.
So, there is an agenda firmly in place, although Zayas and Cortez don't seem to be all that.
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