SBCISD MEMBERS USE PUBLIC FUNDS FOR SELF-PROMOTION

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

At the October 2 Building Committee Meeting, the Brighton Group, LLC, as part of their $50,000 per month contract, presented a Presentation/Update on the construction of the Indoor Facility.

It was actually a “good news” project update in respect to the Board and the taxpayers. The project is on schedule to be completed as planned now that the CMAR (Construction Manager at Risk) has been selected by the School Board.

Not content with paying Absolute Business Consulting a contracted $9,000 per month for Public Relations/Media Consultant, Board President Michael Vargas, Board VP Orlando Lopez, and Board Secretary Janie Silva felt that in lieu of publishing this Brighton Group Status/Update /Report on the San Benito News for public viewing, the three opted instead to publish a "full-page advertisement" on the San Benito News (paid by $1,430 taxpayer dollars).

This public format was used as a medium or soapbox to inform the public on some school accomplishments and, at the same time, level an "ad hominem" attack on citizens/taxpayers for
exercising their First Amendment right to voice their school district related concerns with the
Board and/or the general media.

Apparently, not only were some board trustees not aware of this tax-payer paid self-promotion, they

were not even asked to review or co-sign the advertisement. Of the four members (Mendez,
Garcia, Weaver, and Rosas) were not listed on the full-page advertisement only two (Mendez and Garcia) Board trustees responded to an email inquiry and the other two completely ignored a valid taxpayer question regarding a board action.

If truth be told, they have never replied to any of my emails. Also apparent is the fact that the subject was never discussed in a publicly called meeting with a quorum of the elected board of trustees acting “as a unit.”

That would be a direct violation of the recently amended “San Benito CISD Board of Trustees
Operating Procedures”. They state “No board member has authority outside of a Board meeting.
The Board’s authority is as a “Body Corporate”. According to BBE(LOCAL) – BOARD MEMBERS: AUTHORITY, “Except for appropriate duties and functions of the Board President, an individual member may act on behalf of the Board ONLY with the express authorization of the Board.

Without such authorization, "no individual member may commit the Board on any issue.”
Taking advantage of the situation, they attacked the in-district local newspaper, their target The
San Benito News, for exercising their First Amendment Right to Freedom of the Press.

As I opined in a prior OP-ED, the Administration and the “Board Majority” trust that they have the
right to control what the newspapers can report or who reporters can interview with (i.e. school
district employees, etc.) for a news story.

This Administration and Board Majority’s bias against the "in-district" local weekly paper stretches
back to the summer of 2018 when the SB News reported on the fiasco regarding the contract between the School District and Southwest Key which proved to be an embarrassing bust for everybody involved. Of course, the blame was leveled on the San Benito News for reporting it.

In September of 2018, the SB News received an email from the School District advising the
Publisher, Editor, advertising staff, etc. that the school district would no longer be advertising with the San Benito News until further notice.

Apparently, Board Trustees Vargas, Lopez, and Silva have no problem spending taxpayer dollars
attacking local tax-paying citizens and the San Benito News but the Board President Vargas and the Administration will not publish legal notices on the local weekly newspaper as required/mandated by the Texas Education Code.

Basically, the Administration and “Board Majority” were severing all business and community ties between SB CISD and the San Benito News that have existed for decades.

“School Board Trustees” are elected to make logical and wise decisions regarding the education of our children and spending taxpayer dollars wisely.

Using taxpayer dollars to personally attack the local weekly paper, former employees, and
taxpayers/citizens exercising their First Amendment Right to Free Speech is not an oath the board
trustees recited.

IMHO, if the Board Majority wishes to continue their own personal battle with the media, especially
The San Benito News, they should do it spending their own personal money and NOT the “taxpayer dollars or OPM”.