By Juan Montoya
A state jury in the 197th District Court today found that the Brownsville Independent School District did not discriminate against a female teacher/coach who claimed she was was denied an athletic director position at Besteiro Middle School because "she didn't know football."
The jury also ruled that the BISD should not pay damages to the plaintiff Patricia Salgado, who filed her lawsuit September 28, 2017.Salgado, a 10-year employee of the district as a teacher and coach, said that despite being recommended by former Besteiro A.D. Albert Alegria and principal Kathleen Jimenez, two male applicants were selected over her.
She charged that "at least one of the selections, Mr. Ben Sandoval, did not possess the minimum qualifications. The other male selection changed his mind after being approved and was allowed to be selected to another position of his choosing at Porter High School.
"However, Defendant’s administration believe that men make better athletic directors because, “they know football”. At least, this was the opinion of Mr. Julio Martinez, A.P. and possibly others such as Jason Starkey and Tom Chavez who were on the interviewing committee. They voted to award the position to the male applicant she says was less qualified.Salgado further charged that she had been discriminated based upon her gender and a male- dominated mentality that she must know football that assumes that a woman is not capable of being an AD because of the sexist attitude that she does not understand nor has the ability to coach a sport because of her sex.
Further, she said that on or about August 26, 2016, she submitted a complaint of discrimination that is required to be investigated by the BISD HR Department. It took nearly eight (8) months for an investigation to be conducted and an additional two (2) months to receive a report, she stated.
She further claimed that she was further retaliated against by the district by refusing to hire her as the Athletic Director and its refusal to investigate her complaint for opposing workplace discrimination. Currently, there is not one female Athletic Director serving in that capacity in the BISD.
In her lawsuit, Salgado sought monetary relief over $200,000.00 but not more than $1,000,000 plus attorneys fees. She asked for the jury trial.
In its response, the BISD had denied all the allegations and said that her non-selection was based on legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons unrelated to her gender and says the lawsuit is "frivolous, unreasonable, and without foundation."
Court watchers would say that the above is par for the course in one of these lawsuits, but there were some unexpected turns of events.
For example, after Asst. District Judge Louis Sorola denied the district's motion for summary judgment on June 1 and ruled that the trial could proceed, the BISD attorneys June 7 moved to have him recused from the case because he had been listed as a legal representative for fellow district judge Elia Cornejo in a grievance against the BISD.
Sorola was listed as Cornejo-Lopez representative but never performed any work for her on the complaint. However, he agreed to recuse himself and the case was heard by Judge Migdalia Lopez.
Salgado's witness list included 12 BISD administrators including Chavez, Jimenez, and Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas. Zendejas' role in the matter is of some interest because there are allegations that she placed a personal call to the school's administration and allegedly influenced the final selection of the Besteiro A.D.
There was another off quirk to this case which does not bode well for the BISD. The court heard an argument outside the presence of the jury on a spoilation issue because the interview files of the applicants for the Besteiro A.D position had gone missing.
We have been corrected and told that the court did not issue an order June 11 that the jury be instructed on the fact that the district could not produce the interview files because they were missing.
Despite all that, the jury did not find for Salgado.
11 comments:
I was in this jury pool. I was #2 in the lineup in the 197th. I told # 1 and #2 that, given my experience, there is a greater chance of being picked if you have a low #. They picked #1 and #3 etc. They didn't pick me. Probably because of my buzz haircut. The case was made before the jurors were picked. This is Brownsville where women are of no value unless it is making breakfast, lunch and dinner and ....ing.
If Salgado still feels she was discriminated or that there was spoilage in the case, then she should go after the individuals who did harm to her with their comments and for losing the files. File in a different court and sue the alleged offenders, Martinez, Starkey, Chavez and Guerra from HR. They have personal insurance for protection so go after them Ms. Salgado. Has the position been filled? If not, reapply for the position. Alegria and his union can provide you with a lawyer but make sure it is not Shergold = he lost this one for you.
I want to know how in the world Albert Alegria was ever an AD.
Linda Forse...You were not picked because you could not be a fair and impartial juror. Clearly you have bias in favor of a woman plaintiff. That should and did disqualify you.
Same question as blogger of 6:28 - Alegria does not even have a physical education certification, much less coaching. How did he get to be AD? When I was at Besteiro, all he did was walk the halls and brown-nose whichever principal was there. Many times during the day he was seen at district events when he should have been "teaching" at school. I understand he was reassigned to a different campus and he is furious about it. If he had been working in the classroom, and was making a difference on his campus, he would not have been placed in the pool or moved. Mr. Know-it-all constantly complains at board meeting, the same thing over and over just like Pat Hammes but I guess they must pretend to represent the many union members that pay their dues.
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File in federal court.
To those who advocate refiling the case in another court, I only have one thing to say....."res adjudicata". Look it up!
Very difficult for a lady to get into the "Old Boys" athletic fraternity. BISD is far behind in athletics. They still think football is "the game"....when other sports are more likely to produce winners...like soccer and girls sports. As long a Coach Joe is around, the "Old Boys" network will rule and will ignore progress....and keep on losing. Too bad for Salgado; we wish her and other female coaches well as they seek to break the BISD sports glass ceiling.
Alegria was selected by the principal for that position. The athletic director and Lopez athletic coordinator had no say in the choice. This is why Lopez HS currently is in such a mess because the principal gets involved in athletics and has no clue. The hiring of athletic coordinators for middle schools should be handled by the feeder high school's athletic coordinator and the hiring of HS athletic coordinators should be handled by the athletic director......like its done everywhere else in Texas.
Res judicata does not prevent appeals to a higher court and there are limited exceptions to res judicata that allow a party to attack the validity of the original judgment in the same court
Lost files...
Look it up
Get the untouchable Black Mamba Rene Oliveira to defend you, he knows every slimeball in Brownsville.
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