With characteristic bombast and fluster, Brownsville Independent School District trustee Minerva Peña is doing her best impression of a bull running amok in a china shop.
Her recent acts have left her fellow trustees bewildered and not a bit upset at her antics.
Her behavior at the recent picking of a financial consultant is but one example.
BISD's Chief Financial Officer Ismael Garcia had recommended that the first pick for that lucrative position be awarded to a San Antonio company and placed it be fore the board at their last meeting.
When it time to cast the vote, three trustees voted to follow his recommendations, only to have Peña vacillate and say that she didn't feel she could vote and wanted to abstain because she didn't have "enough information."
When the board couldn't muster the majority needed to pick the consultant, Garcia suggested that they consider the second choice, Estrada and Hinojosa, the existing consultants.
To the rest of her fellow trustee's surprise, Peña raised her hand in support of Estrada and Hinojosa.
"You should have seen the stunned look in the other trustees' faces when Peña voted," said a a BISD administrator. "They asked her how she could say she didn't have enough information to vote for the CFO's first pick and then voted for Estrade and Hinojosa just a short moment later."
You remember that bunch. In BISD's forensic audit, it was discovered they were primarily responsible for convincing the trustees and the admnistration to issue $25.9 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCB) under the federal Instructional Facilities Allotment (IFA)in 2010 .
Board members and even former Superintendent Brett Springston were told at the time that the state would consider the entire debt service with federal tax credits which would make the bond "free money."
The board authorized the issuance Dec. 7, 2010...and the bonds were sold Dec. 22. A little over two weeks later, on Jan. 6, 2011, Estrada Hinojosa & Company were contacted by the Texas Education Agency and they were told the debt service schedules submitted with the four applications were incorrect because they did not deduct the federal subsidy from the debt service requirement on the bonds.
So, instead of a minimal payment, or none at all as they had been promised, the board members were told that the district's local share will be approximately $507,068 a year which over the 18-year term of the bonds will cost the district $9,127,216 to retire.
The net profit for the "consultants" for that slight-of-hand? Close to $3.5 million. So knowing that, why did Peña suddenly change her mind on the selection of consultants for the 2012-2013 school year?
The suspicion among district observers is that Peña – now seeking reelection – thought the consultants might not forget her largess when they make their political donations for the election in November.
You remember that bunch. In BISD's forensic audit, it was discovered they were primarily responsible for convincing the trustees and the admnistration to issue $25.9 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCB) under the federal Instructional Facilities Allotment (IFA)in 2010 .
Board members and even former Superintendent Brett Springston were told at the time that the state would consider the entire debt service with federal tax credits which would make the bond "free money."
The board authorized the issuance Dec. 7, 2010...and the bonds were sold Dec. 22. A little over two weeks later, on Jan. 6, 2011, Estrada Hinojosa & Company were contacted by the Texas Education Agency and they were told the debt service schedules submitted with the four applications were incorrect because they did not deduct the federal subsidy from the debt service requirement on the bonds.
So, instead of a minimal payment, or none at all as they had been promised, the board members were told that the district's local share will be approximately $507,068 a year which over the 18-year term of the bonds will cost the district $9,127,216 to retire.
The net profit for the "consultants" for that slight-of-hand? Close to $3.5 million. So knowing that, why did Peña suddenly change her mind on the selection of consultants for the 2012-2013 school year?
The suspicion among district observers is that Peña – now seeking reelection – thought the consultants might not forget her largess when they make their political donations for the election in November.
"It smelled as if she was padding her nest for a contribution with that vote," said a member of the public who attended the meeting. "That really reeked."
Still another act by the flighty trustee was the attendance of the local bus driver' union at a pep rally held for returning students.
According to union sources, Peña suggested that they confront BISD superintendent Carl Montoya at Sam's Stadium when he appeared for that event. Now, if you have followed BISD tradition, the pep rally for students, parents, BISD teachers and staff and the trustees is not a forum for labor disputes.
Yet, some driver have said that intrepid Peña advised them to talk to Montoya about their demands in front of the crowd assembled to cheer in the new school year.
"She is flighty at best and possibly nuts at worse," said a BISD administrator. "Sometimes you want to think that she doesn't know what she's doing, but at other times you wonder whether she was also looking for the drivers' political support by suggesting they confront the super with their demands at the rally."
21 comments:
Do wehave other choices besides Minerva?
and how did Escobedo vote for and how much money is he getting out of this deal?
Juan, was this incident with the bus drivers at the Stadium? I heard it was at Rivera. Every board member has at one time or another used this tactic in some form or fashion to promote a pet project of their own - to secure support at the next election. If the administrators, like Smiley and his co-hort Rosie Pena knew tht this Hinojosa firm had messed up with BISD already, why in the hell did they recommend it as one of the three top firms to be presented to the board? If Minerva voted against another firm and approves a second firm, she may have known more about the 2nd firm. She is always stating that the administration never gives them enough background information for them to study before they vote, as does Saavedra, so what was wrong with her vote. Just because she did not vote with the others, like they were once expected to vote for a certain insurance company, if you can remember that. What is new about shenenigans like this with our "trustees?" When will we be able to clean house at BISD when our choice of candidates is so limited, as those that are up for the Nov. election. I do not see much change in what will come up and nothing will be done unless one of us get the pantalones to call TEA and ask them to come down and settle all the shit that is being dropped off by our board members.
she will not be re - elected. she has a low IQ and is just few points smarter then ruben cortez....on the other hand she can be just as reckless as zayas who goes down in local politics as the dumbest elected offical in the last 100 years.
Come on Juanito, Catatita put you up to these lies. You know well that the public saw how obvious it looked for Catatita to get angry and leave after the vote. We were watching at homw and could not believe our eyes. It appeared that Catatita was getting ready to ask the group from San Antonio for a contribution for her re-election bid. It is obvious that your are now being asked by Catatita to say this about Pena, since she lost her ability to get money for her re-election bid from the San Antonio Group. How much is Catatita paying you to attack Pena? Tell us and we will double, so you to tell the truth about how terrible Catatita is for our entire community. Just put the word out Juanito and you can get your price to advertize how bad Catatita really is for everyone.
Hey Juanio,who else voted for the item in question or was Minerva Pena the only one that voted for the item in question???????????????????
Didn't have to read the by line from Montoya? If it has to do with this fucking idiot of Minerva Pena, then it is not surprising? She is such a fucking idiot and a poor excuse of a former law enforcement officer! This CUNT was a sergeant in DPS and spoke on behalf of a convicted sexual predator! Its no wonder BISD is so fucked up and money just pouring out of every orifice that can be found! Next to crooked Joe Cisneros, its hard to pick from the two?
Yea, you could see in fire in Cata's pants as well as Saavedra when they lost the vote for the other firm. I still say that you are relying on one sole source for your stories and that source is one that is at all not respected by the community -CPG. So dime con quien te juntas y te dire quien eres, Juan.
Lots of talk, but which of you were willing to run for office?
Tell me why you people in this blog have to use such vulgar language here. It is obivious that those of you trashing people here are worthless, and simply envy those they speak of. So sad for you life........it appears you have none.
Decades of incompetence at all levels of BISD partially explains why the "citizens" of BROWNsville Are such fucking morons. You people are such fools and get what you deserve. You are the laughing stock of the great state of Texas and relate more to mexico than the US. The great wall should have been built closer to corpus Christi to keep all of you scum where you belong. Next to the river. You make me puke.
Esta pinche vieja ta bien loca!
Why don't you people who criticize the commenters on this blog use spell check? Proofread before you post, pendejo! Hahaha!
Next time you puke, swallow, mamon!
Pura lana, esta gente no la brica sin huarache, do you really think all these contracts go out on a realistic bid process come on.
It is OBVIOUS that the 2:45 commenter is OBLIVIOUS to the use of spell check.
did she graduate from Porter high school y era Porter belle?
Anonymous at 629..if you are blogging on a damn Brownsville blog, you are no better. Stop hating and get a life idiot. I am going out on a limb, but I bet you are a coconut ashamed of your roots
It is so obvious that Cata Presas-Garcia is the one posting all the comments that are trashing this lady. Cata Presas-Garcia, when are you going to learn? We do not want to know how bad you think your opponents are, but we want to know what you have to bring to the community that is good. I bet since you have nothing good to offer our community you instead attack anyone who disagrees with you. Right!!!
Since you are already out on a limb, slip a noose around your neck and jump. Put your self out of the misery of living in brownsville.
Escobedo, Cata, Lehman, Lucy, Christina, do you all know how it feels to be behind bars? Juan knows, I know, get your business in order, your time is coming real soon. It is a horrible and very lonely feeling, I normally don't wish this on anyone, but I hope you get what is coming to you!
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