NAGGY Y ENVIDIOSA, PENA WAGGING THE BISD DOG

By Juan Montoya
How is it that a woman who was rejected by the voters to be a justice of the peace, who endorsed a candidate who cost Cameron County taxpayers $150,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit, and is now championing a candidate whose sons are serving time for murder is controlling a majority on the board of Brownsville Independent School District?
Additionally, Peña, a former pom-pom girl for the Porter High School Cowboys, is the biggest cheerleader for BISD counsel Baltazar Salazar who is accused in a federal lawsuit of lying on his application with the district that his three arrests and one conviction for theft had been "set aside" by the courts with no mention that he had failed to get them expunged when an appeals court agreed with the Texas Department of Public Safety's objections?
In other words, how is it that one BISD trustee (the tail) is wagging the $505 million BISD (dog)?
That's the question in everybody's lips as they watch in fascination as trustee Minerva Peña displays her meager leadership talents on the board.
During the last meeting of the board, Minerva's support for the hiring of two Asst. Area Superintendents might have gone over the legal limits because the board's agenda did not include action on two positions, but on only one.
The item read: "49. Recommend approval of probationary contractual personnel for the 2014-2015 school year – Area Assistant Superintendent. Subject to receipt of all outstanding documentation."
That item mentions only one position, but under Peña's prodding, not only was Hanna High School Principal Terry Alarcon approved for the position, but Curriculum and Instruction Co-Director Dora Sauceda was also added as an afterthought.
Now, those of us who are not savvy about education law didn't know that several violations occurred in the passing of the item that included Sauceda.  First, there had been no money allotted in the recently-passed school budget for an another Asst. Area Superintendent's position.
Secondly, the hiring of the second Asst. Area Superintendent on Peña's whim was not posted on the board's agenda, a violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
Another move by Peña during the meeting highlighted her vindictive nature when she demanded that the Administration ( and a pliant Superintendent Carl Montoya complied) place an item on the agenda showing the allocation of $15,000 in travel funds for fellow trustee Caty Presas-Garcia to attend meetings of the Council of Urban Boards of Education.
The item read: 10. Discussion, consideration and possible action to allocate additional travel funds for Caty
Presas-Garcia, Board of Trustee, due to her appointment to the CUBE Steering Committee,
in the amount not to exceed $15,000.00.
Presas-Garcia was appointed to a position on the CUBE Steering Committee by director Deborah L. Keys who to serve the unexpired term of Dr. Patsy Taylor of Sugarland "because of her consistent presence at and support of CUBE events and her energies and enthusiastic spirit..."
"Caty will certainly be an asset to the SC team, especially since we recognize the importance of having a representative from the great state of Texas," Keys announced. "Her presence on the SC ensures that CUBE will continue to have a strong voice from that region of our country."
The BISD was named as the recipient of the CUBE award in 2008 Award for Urban School Board Excellence, the same year that the district won the Broad Prize for Urban Education, an annual $1 million award that honors one U.S. school district each year making the greatest progress in raising student achievement.
The last time a BISD board member served on the CUBE Steering Committee was when Dr. Christina Saavedra was elected in 2013 and in 2010 when BISD vice-president Ruben Cortez was named to the position.
Since then, no BISD board member has been selected even though several, including Peña, have applied for an appointment but was turned down. At that time, regular funds from the school-board members' travel line item were used for without the need for the special item to be placed on the agenda.
The personal vendetta behind the item was so obvious that even board president Otis Powers and trustee Cesar Lopez chastised her in open meeting questioning why she  had not insisted that a similar item be placed for the board's consideration when Cortez and Saavedra were on the CUBE board.
If our three readers remember, it was Peña who placed the agenda item to spend $15,000 for a contingent of BISD personnel to travel to Denver, Colo., to make a pitch for the naming of Brownsville as and All-American City.
Now, the CUBE mission is to "support urban school boards and fosters effective leadership for excellence and equity in public education, with a specific focus on underrepresented students. CUBE provides educational opportunities that engage urban school districts and district leaders, working through their state school boards associations, while addressing challenges in urban centers."
If we compare the $15,000 spent to collect a plaque which doesn't add any tangible benefits to our city or improvements to the quality of life of its residents to the educational mission of the CUBE, it's a no brainer.
Peña's antics on the board – her protection of Salazar, her public endorsement of Pete Avila over Mary Esther Garica and her public championing of BISD candidate Mary Rey over Lucy Longoria – just about depleted her political stock.
With Lopez and Powers already registering their disapproval of her purely personal motives in performing her duty to further the educational mission of the district, how long will this blowhard be riding shotgun on the BISD?