By Juan Montoya
This Monday at 5:30 p.m., the members of the board of the Brownsville Independent School District will hold a special meeting to decide who the next president of that august body will be.
This comes in the wake of the resignation of current board president Cesar Lopez who cited "family obligations" (he has two young boys) to step aside from the stress-laden position of guiding the district, a monster that manages a $480 million budget and oversees the education of 44,000 students and is the biggest employer in the county with 7,000 employees.
As the BISD stated in its public announcement on July 11, the day Lopez resigned: "In keeping with district policy, Mr. Carlos A. Elizondo assumed the duties of President of the Board."
Well, that may be district policy, but it's a mite unpalatable when the vice-president is under indictment for theft, abuse of his fiduciary obligations, breaching the security of city computers, and fighting for his freedom if convicted on any of the 11 felony charges alleged in the indictments.
He was also demoted as fire chief and later, after the second indictment, fired from his job. In an affidavit with the BISD, he names the company that is providing EMT/firefighter classes to the district as his main source of income. It was he, by the way, who was instrumental in that company acquiring the lucrative contract that totals $100,000s annually.
Besides, coming on the heels of the judicial corruption investigation that saw a district judge, the district attorney and a disputation of local lawyers sporting the latest fashions in federal prison jump suits, it somehow doesn't seem right that the president of the local school district should be someone under a prosecutorial cloud.
Sure, everyone's innocent until proven guilty, but that doesn't apply in the court of public opinion or appearances. After all, this is the same person who had a theft charge dismissed in 2002 after he paid restitution to a woman for stealing her wheelchair and later had the charge expunged.
Instead, the word in the hallways of the Glass Palace is that Da Boys (Lopez, Elizondo and Joe Rodriguez) will try to inveigle trustee Laura Perez-Reyes to take over the president's gavel to cover their doings under the mantle of purity.
Will Perez-Reyes take the bait?
There is some talk that Perez-Reyes, the court coordinator for Judge David Gonzalez of Cameron County Court-at-Law #3, will demur and recommend that the top spot on the board go to Minnie Peña, whose breast-beating for "da keeds" is constant at the meetings and who dearly loves to be in the spotlight that takes her back to the days of yore when she was a cheerleader in high school.
Peña has been in this spot before when she thought Da Boys back then loved her only to have the rug pulled out under her feet and dethroned as suddenly as she was placed on the bully pulpit. Will the allure of being the center of attraction one last time blind her to the disillusion of the past?
Other board members don't have the necessary support to get the top spot, assuming anyone one wants it. Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas couldn't live with Dr. Sylvia Atkinson – also a former superintendent – looking over her broad shoulders. And trustee Phil Cowen would drive the board mad with his impetuous (and petulant) style.
That leaves Rodriguez, who everyone is expecting to topple over anytime he totters around the main office. Making Joe walk all the way across the elevated platform where the board meets to the president's chair would be akin to elderly abuse and a mean thing to do to Feeble Joe.
So aside from Elizondo, who would be the Lesser Evil? That's the dilemma where the BISD board – and the school district – has found itself.
6 comments:
Everybody knows is going to be Laura.
Just pull a Republican stunt and leave it open until the November elections. Then Joe Valdez can be Pres.
I would give it to Atkinson and wait until new elections then call for "realignment" and vote again. Who knows, the three deplorable men might not be around next time.
Clarifying. I DON'T KNOW Dr. Atkinson or ANY of the current board and to be honest, I hope they would ALL JUST RESIGN.
Dr A could do it, but she is too arrogant to try to do it without revenge.
Why not vote ❎ the same time to call the Fed's in and we can vote ❎ again next year for new people to replace the ones that have been caught scamming in their new jobs.
Minerva why not one puppet a greedy jeriatric and a narcissist possibly the better choice.
Post a Comment