HODGE PODGE AT BISD; CHRISSIE IS GONE, PENA LURED BY CASH TO STAY, NO CONTROL OF LEGAL FEES

By Juan Montoya

Is money, or the love of it, the root of all evil at the Brownsville Independent School District?

Money, or the lack of it available locally for her labor, is what is driving Dr. Christina Saavedra to San Antonio. Tonight she will formally announce what has been on everybody's lips for weeks, that she is on her way to San Wilmas.

That will sadden some of the 120 administrators that Dr. Crissie took to San Antonio recently with a stay overnight at a Riverwalk hotel to attend a conference on how to receive (and spend?) grant money. Given the details of the trip, we can surmise that it was a hands-on experience.
She has recently made it known that she was sick of the hostile treatment of the female minority members on the board by board president Enrique Escobedo and the majority that includes Minerva Peña, Jose Chirinos and Otis Powers. 

And the BISD  administration will recommend that Bertha Peña Area Asst. Superintendent – whose salary is listed by the Texas Tribune before this year's 2 percent raise at $145,748 – be raised by $13,000 for "additional duties." We understand that hardly anyone makes $$160,000 at the college, so Peña probably got the best of both worlds. With that kind of incentive, who wouldn't have opted to stay?

She's not the only one riding that gravy train. Auditor Margie Pinzano will present a report on rising legal fees paid by the district. Her re\port indicates that for the last three years BISD has paid:

2010-2011: $546, 000

2011-2012 $692, 000

2012-2013 $869, 000...and the meter is still running.

Her finding:  "We found that there was no formal policy or procedure for processing the disbursements for attorneys."

Her recommendation:The district after this finding has halted cash payments to the attorneys and will use purchase orders.

Will it ever stop?