PRINCIPAL IN CITY $67,500 EMT FIASCO COMING TO BISD

By Juan Montoya
Medical instruction personnel at the Brownsville Independent School District are all abuzz with the imminent arrival of David R. Garza to the district as an instructor on a certified nurse assistant course.
Garza will be among some of the personnel to be approved for employment with the BISD at the Tuesday November 5 meeting.
The reason eyebrows are lifting is because Garza was one if the principals in the City of Brownsville Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) fiasco that resulted in the loss of $67,500 after the Texas Department of State Health Services discovered that a paramedic course taught by an outfit called the Pan American Institute of Emergency Medical Sciences to 15 city firefighters had been submitted to the state under false pretenses.
The Pan American Institute of Emergency Medical Sciences coordinator Adiel Garcia and principal instructor David R. Garza's submitted a course notification to the state ostensibly was made under the auspices of the University of Texas at Brownsville EMS Program License when in reality the university had no role in conducting the course of instruction.
When the state discovered that – except for the principals involved – UTB was not involved in the contract with the city, it pulled certification of the program and the 15 students were left high and dry. As a result, an assessor for the state was sent to Brownsville to asses the state of their instruction and to recommend a course of action.
The city, however, lost the $67,500 the Pan American Institute charged them at $4,500 per student.
The classes were held at the Brownsville Fire Department Station 8 at the Port of Brownsville. Garza, the primary instructor, was one of the principals in submitting the bogus UTB course number to the state.
And as the state investigation into the matter develops, he may come under the scrutiny of state examiners to determine whether any action – disciplinary or otherwise – may be initiated in the case.
And just recently, when at the insistence of BISD trustee Minerva Peña – the district decided to table the proposals from vendors including the UTB to teach students EMT courses, the district stopped offering the instruction. According to Peña, the BISD will now teach the course in-house, that is, establish its own coordinator, principal instructors, etc.
What role will Garza play in the new plan to establish an EMT program in the district. Many are saying that his hiring is just a move to establish then personnel necessary to put the parts in place for the eventual establishment of the EMT staff. His hiring as a certified nurse assistant instructor is seen merely as a smokescreen by Joseph Menard, the administrative assistant at the district's Career Technical Department under director Tim Snyder, as they prepare to lay the foundation for the EMT program.
Menard and Garza attend the same church and the arrangement to have him come to BISD is really in preparation for what will be a three-year project. Until that time, students at BISD will not be offered the EMT course.
It's instructive that Peña convinced a majority of her fellow BISD trustees to table the proposals for a vendor to offer the EMT course. For the last three years, the cost of the course to the district offered through the UTB department has been escalating from an approximate $156,000 in 2010, $120,000 in 2011, to $255,000 in 2012.
The term diminishing returns come to mind when one considers that a grand total of eight students were graduated in the last year UIB offered the instruction. Come to think of it, at $225,000 for eight graduates, Garza fits the bill nicely to be a medical billing instructor.
In contrast, the original provider before UTB took over at BISD was an outfit called International Academy EMT who charged some $120,000 per year. This year, the bid from that group also came in at about that same price in comparison to UTB.
So why is Peña running interference for Snyder, Menard and Garza? It's hard to fathom Peña's motives, but given her vindictive nature, it's not far fetched to think there may be some personal grudge against the low bidder as well.
The process by which Garza and Adriel Garcia got the city to fork over $67,500 for a bogus EMT program also raises some questions. The company was formed earlier this year in February, but the application was withheld until April 17 after the city – on the recommendation of hapless Fire Department Chief Lenny Perez – approved the contract at their April 16 meeting, the day before. The fix, as folks are wont to say, was in.
We are curious to see what the BISD board will do in this case. With Peña as the driving force, students in the district will not have the EMT training and will have to wait a few years until Snyder, Menard, and Garza get their ducks in a row to they can place their buddies on the payroll.
 Is this any way to run a railroad?