NO $1.4 MILLION SCOREBOARD, BSN, OR PARAGON SPORTS?

By Juan Montoya

In reading the Brownsville Herald today, we ares struck by the frugal nature of the ads purchased by Brownsville Independent School District Place 4 incumbent Joe "Coach" Rodriguez.

While other candidates realize that early voting starts Monday and want to impress their credentials to the electorate, Rodriguez seems to favor the staid, quiet approach to his advertising budget. In other words, to go cheap.

His claim to fame are the so-called America’s Best Urban Schools Awards which are handed out in San Diego, the place, coincidentally, where BISD's Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas once ruled the roost.

In his minuscule ads, Rodriguez goes back to 2016 and says six school garnered recognition as either "gold" or "silver" winners. The last we heard, Rodriguez hasn't stepped into a classroom to give instruction to any BISD students in decades, yet readily claims the credit for the recognition.

In the others, he crows up his own performance as "a trustee that has questioned insurance and personal (personnel?) procedures that have saved BISD over $6 million." Yet, he doesn't give any specifics on how he has saved the district that much moolah. We should just take him at his word as the Herald obviously did.

Them in the Sports section (of course, he was after all, a "coach" many lifetimes ago), he chides three other trustees for trying to terminate the superintendent's contract.

This is the same Rodriguez who promised the district's residents when he moved to place Zendejas in an interim role until there had been a nationwide search led by a nationally-known consultant, that community input would be assured by the appointment of a committee of local residents, and that extensive interviews would take place.

All that was forgotten and tossed to the side and Zendejas, who handed in a two-page resume, was made permanent super now at almost $300,00 a year, and has given Rodriguez all he wants. Maybe "Coach" learned Latin along the way. How do you say "quid pro quo"?

But we're dying to know why he – who championed the hiring of Paragon Sports without competitive bidding – isn't claiming credit for that company getting more than $7 million in business from the BISD installing artificial turf? He said they were the "best in the world" at what they do without really telling anybody how he came to that conclusion.

When a purchasing agent demanded that Paragon be vetted by the district as they did all other BuyBoard vendors, she was ignominiously exiled to the Food and Nutrition Service, the Siberia of the BISD.

He also hasn't told anyone why he chose the company that installed the $1.4 million smoke and mirrors scoreboard at crumbling Sams Stadium, also without going out for bids. Were they also the "best in the world?" Or were they just more generous than most?

Oh, yeah, the BuyBoard.

Once you're a member you can pick from any of the vendors listed there without going out for bids. In fact, BSN Sports, the company he works for, is listed as a vendor, too. Over the time he has been on the board, that company has sold BISD millions in sports equipment.

"Coach" has been very successful in selling BSN and Herrf Jones products under the Varsity Brands to the BISD. The graphic below indicates just how successful he has been.

In fact, during a recent controversy involving the ordering of 30 $895 championship rings for the Porter soccer team, Rodriguez was outspoken in defending the purchase, even though as a vendor of BSN, a sister company under Varsity Brands, it constituted a clear conflict of interest and he should have abstained from both the discussion and the vote.

He ignored that and he did.

Rodriguez is now seeking reelection to the Position 4 spot on the board against challengers Randy Gonzlaez, Dr. Prisci Roca Tipton and Jorge Valdez.

Will the voters of the district allow him to continue going to the well and to "keep the momentum going" as a vendor posing as a defender of children's education and the well-being of the district?