By Juan Montoya
The runoff election for Place 6 of the board of trustees of Texas Southmost College may come down to several simple questions.
For the challenger JJ De Leon, do your qualifications as an assistant to Brownsville Independent School District high-level administrators qualify you to become a member of a policy-making body?
And to incumbent Dr. Rey Garcia, does you record of obstruction and apparent ill will toward the public entity you represent qualify you to further occupy the seat you now hold?
There was only a 54-vote difference between Garcia and De Leon in the recent May 5 election. Garcia garnered 2,312 to 2,258 for De Leon,a a 54-vote difference. Percentage-wise, Garcia got 35.3 to De Leon's 34.5 percent. The third candidate, Carlos Rios got 30.1 percent.
It is doubtful that a Rios endorsement of any of the two candidates would be of any benefit to either of the candidates.
Rios self-destructed with his arrest for Driving While Intoxicated when he fell asleep at the drive-through window at a Whataburger after publicly (and abusively, we are told) berating the restaurant manager inside before getting in his Tahoe and driving to the take-out window.
De Leon has stressed his educational experience.
“I’ve been in education for 24 years, I’ve started from the bottom all the way to the top. I have an associate’s, bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in education.”
The runoff election for Place 6 of the board of trustees of Texas Southmost College may come down to several simple questions.
For the challenger JJ De Leon, do your qualifications as an assistant to Brownsville Independent School District high-level administrators qualify you to become a member of a policy-making body?
And to incumbent Dr. Rey Garcia, does you record of obstruction and apparent ill will toward the public entity you represent qualify you to further occupy the seat you now hold?
It is doubtful that a Rios endorsement of any of the two candidates would be of any benefit to either of the candidates.
Rios self-destructed with his arrest for Driving While Intoxicated when he fell asleep at the drive-through window at a Whataburger after publicly (and abusively, we are told) berating the restaurant manager inside before getting in his Tahoe and driving to the take-out window.
De Leon has stressed his educational experience.
“I’ve been in education for 24 years, I’ve started from the bottom all the way to the top. I have an associate’s, bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in education.”
Garcia, a dentist, said he had started his education at TSC before going on to get his dentistry degree.
But that aside, Garcia must answer why ha joined a former TSC trustee to file a complaint with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools – TSC's accrediting agency – to review the community college's accreditation.
The men's complaint was based on their perception that the majority which decided to terminate former TSC college president Lily Tercero for alleged shortcomings, had overstepped their authority and terminated her without just cause.n (Click on graphic to enlarge.)
She, in turn, filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against all the trustees and TSC – with the exception of Garcia and trustee Art Rendon – in federal court. They were the only two who sided with Tercero against the college.
That case is still making its way through the courts.
The SAC-COC later determined that Garcia's complaint was baseless and dismissed it. But it is worthwhile asking here why Garcia put the education of more than 5,000 TSC students in danger based on his allegiance to Tercero.
Was the personal attachment to one person worth endangering the accreditation of TSC students to satisfy a personal whim?
If the accrediting body had found cause for concern, it could have begun the process of removing accreditation from the community college after an arduous three-year effort to obtain it, the main reason that Tercero was hired in the first place. But instead of the accreditation taking one year, as promised, it dragged on for three.
More seriously, the letter from the SACS-COC covers basically the same information that is being used in the discovery process of the lawsuit Tercero has used to buttress her lawsuit against the college. In other words, the college's answers to the complaint filed by these two men is the basis Tercero's lawyers used to aid her in her lawsuit which seeks the payment of the three-year extension at $228,000 per year for a total of $684,000 plus attorneys fees.
In her lawsuit, Tercero says she was terminated “without good cause and in violation of her right to due process.”
Tercero was dismissed and placed on paid leave after a hearing held Sept. 19, 2016. Some of the trustees were unhappy after the Texas Board of Nursing put the college's vocational nursing program on “conditional approval status” for lagging passing rates for the state licensing exam. The following January, the state ordered the college to shut the program down.
Tercero also faced questions over why she agreed to a campus windstorm policy without board approval. The windstorm insurance renewal (done without board consent) was one of the nine reasons TSC attorney Frank Perez listed as cause for dismissal at Tercero’s dismissal hearing. Another was why Tercero continued using the rubber stamp signatures to issue more than $1 million checks to vendors despite the fact that those two trustees were no longer on the board.
A federal judge dismissed three of Tercero's nine causes of action and says a jury must decided the rest unless a settlement is reached between the parties before then.
More seriously, the letter from the SACS-COC covers basically the same information that is being used in the discovery process of the lawsuit Tercero has used to buttress her lawsuit against the college. In other words, the college's answers to the complaint filed by these two men is the basis Tercero's lawyers used to aid her in her lawsuit which seeks the payment of the three-year extension at $228,000 per year for a total of $684,000 plus attorneys fees.
In her lawsuit, Tercero says she was terminated “without good cause and in violation of her right to due process.”
Tercero was dismissed and placed on paid leave after a hearing held Sept. 19, 2016. Some of the trustees were unhappy after the Texas Board of Nursing put the college's vocational nursing program on “conditional approval status” for lagging passing rates for the state licensing exam. The following January, the state ordered the college to shut the program down.
Tercero also faced questions over why she agreed to a campus windstorm policy without board approval. The windstorm insurance renewal (done without board consent) was one of the nine reasons TSC attorney Frank Perez listed as cause for dismissal at Tercero’s dismissal hearing. Another was why Tercero continued using the rubber stamp signatures to issue more than $1 million checks to vendors despite the fact that those two trustees were no longer on the board.
A federal judge dismissed three of Tercero's nine causes of action and says a jury must decided the rest unless a settlement is reached between the parties before then.
If Garcia wants to remind blind to the shortcomings of his hero Tercero in detriment to the students and their parents who invested in their education, then the choice between him and De Leon is a no-brainer. De Leon has shown that he is still able to learn. Garcia has shown he is set in his ways and will act with caprice and malice toward the community college, its students, his colleagues on the board, and the district's taxpayers.
It's De Leon hands down with us.
Early voting started June 11 and goes through the 19th. Election Day is June 23.
4 comments:
Juan, try ESL classes. It will improve your vocabulary.
Why worry, voters are ignorant anyway.
They prefer youth and handsome looking personalities and neglect principles.
Handsome? Who are you referring to? Certainly not JJ, right. The person who shows a lot of dignity and poise is DR. Rey Garcia. Do you mean him?
Right on! And what do looks have to do with being a good public servant?
The only thing that makes a difference is the money spent on the campaign on pachangas and buy votes.
JJ would be a disaster For TSC!
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