BISD'S COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS RECIPE FOR DISASTER

By Juan Montoya
In case you are wondering who is going to determine the direction the Brownsville Independent School District is going to take in the administration of its $524 million budget with its 7,000 employees and 40,000 students, let's take a gander at the board committee assignments.
Board president Otis (I haven't met a deer I won't shoot) Powers, assigned Hector Chirinos as chairman of the budget committee, Cesar Lopez and "Coach" Joe Rodriguez as members.
Chirinos, of course, is the same guy who while head of the BISD Transportation Dept. racked up more than $2 million in unjustified overtime for his bus drivers, bought surplus inventory which rotted on the racks to the tune of $100,000s and who bought so much more than his department needed from vendors that the stuff was stacked up to the rafters in the bus warehouses.
In fact, there was so much surplus that stuff went missing and he never knew it. He will be in charge of how the $524 million is spent.
Of course, we know how Lopez got to be a trustee on the BISD. He was handpicked by the late Enrique Escobedo to replace Christina Saavedra after Lopez assisted his brother's firm – American Surveillance – in procuring a lucrative surveillance equipment contract worth $100,000s for the Mercedes ISD when he was the purchasing agent there. Minutes from the meeting at the Mercedes ISD indicate that members of that board wanted equipment with other capabilities than that which American Surveillance had provided, but were talked into buying the stuff by Escobedo's brother and business partner Jaime and Lopez.
One good turn deserves another.
He is, if anything accommodating. He is now a member of the Buy Board – in which BISD is a member – and will be able to steer some of the district's business to vendors of his (and the rest of the board's) choice.
As far as "coach" Joe, we all know that after he left the BISD in a $90,000 golden parachute to keep him from suing the district for having the temerity to turn over uncomplimentary audits of his performance to the public, he embarked on a merry binge of being a vendor for a sports outfit that was favored by then-AD Tom Chavez to provide athletic equipment to the tune of nearly 1/2 million with a hefty commission for good ol' coach.
These foxes are the ones Powers put in charge of keeping an eye on the BISD cash henhouse.
It doesn't stop there.
The lucrative insurance contract was up for grabs after Johnny Cavazos died and this resulted in a free-for-all for the multi-million contracts to insure the district's 7,000-plus employees. So who did Powers decide who would be on that body? How about Lopez, Chirinos, and newbie Carlos Elizondo? Can the longtime firefighter and labor friend Elizondo be a moderating influence on these two? We wouldn't count on it, but who knows? Hope springs eternal.
We would venture to guess that more than half of the stuffed deer heads hanging on Powers' financial consultant's office are a direct result of the free trips to deer leases compliments of people who do business with the BISD, including the insurance guys. He may have to rent more space.
And there to direct Policy is Lopez (again), Elizondo and good ol' "Coach" Rodriguez.
Of course, with all the money changing hands through Budget, Insurance and Policy, you need an Audit committee, so who better to place as chair there than former Texas Department of Public Safety employee Minerva Peña, Chirinos, and the good ol' "coach" Rodriguez to keep an eye on the exchange?
Peña, who doesn't waste an opportunity to let everyone know of her DPS background, nonetheless scoffed at the results of several audits that showed both Chirinos and Rodriguez skirting the laws and in some case rolling right over it when they were district employees. If Budget (with Chirinos as chair) and Policy (with Lopez as chair) want to do their thing, what better Audit chair to have than than near-sighted Porter Belle Peña?
To make things even more ridiculous, guess who Powers put as chair of the Legislative Committee to hobnob and buttonhole legislators in Austin? Would you believe Minnie the Pooh (Peña)? That same towering intellect and Brainiac who can't even get her microphone to work right at meetings is also chair of the Technology committee.
Hang on for the ride, guys!