BISD IMPLODES; DRUNK AT CAB, ABUSIVE AT FOOD SERVICE

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Just when you thought things couldn't get worse at the Brownsville Independent School District, they get worser.

The BISD, which has suffered its share of black eyes ranging from department head and a board president committing suicide, to having one of the board members convicted for bribery in federal court and awaiting sentencing, is once again belted in the face and is sporting two new shiners.

In the picture above, BISD police have the car of Frank Sauceda surrounded last Friday after someone reported that Sauceda,a Supervisor of Pupil Services of the Central Administrative Building on 708 Palm Blvd., was inside drinking during working hours.

And sources have told social media outlets like Erasmo Castro's podcast that this is not the first time that Sauceda has been drunk on the job, sometimes didn't show up for work for days, and that he was protected by CAB Director of Pupil Services Randy Parks.

If the name Sauceda rings any bells, it's because he is related to former BISD Superintendent Dr. Noe Sauceda and Dr. Dora E. Sauceda, currently Assistant Superintendent Curriculum, Instruction and Accountability.

In Mexico, these type of phantom employees are called "paracaidistas," because they only come in at the end of each pay period to collect their check. We wonder if Dr. Sauceda is going to demand accountability from Parks for ignoring the obvious alcohol issues of his Supervisor of Pupil Services?

Don't hold your breath. After all, he is one of the Dr. Sylvia Atkinson proteges. Atkinson, by the way, is the board member who has been convicted in federal court and is awaiting sentencing. 

Sauceda had a meteoric rise toward the cushy top administration slot under her protection. Will his connections do him any good now?

The unkindest cut of all is that the issue first reared its ugly head in Erasmo's podcast since, if you remember, Castro resigned his board position after he was charged with a DWI. Will Frank Sauceda do the honorable thing and do the same?

Karma is a bitch.

The other shiner was delivered to the BISD also on Friday with the suspension of Food and Nutrition Services Director Laura-Zelda S. Villarreal for alleged abusive behavior toward department employees. 

Some hint that involved abusive and rough language bordering on sexual harassment toward department employees and that many have considered leaving their job for a kindlier, gentler location. If you remember, FNS is known as the Siberia of BISD because that's where naughty administrators are sent until things cool of. 

It's also the department where the director committed suicide as U.S. Dept. of Agriculture investigators were targeting the department over the rotten barbacoa purchased from a vendor who prepared the meat in a meat processing plant in Mexico, a no-no under federal guidelines. 

Now we also hear that Villarreal may have an ace up her sleeve and that she has told some department staffers that she will return to her position unscathed in due time because has the goods on a board member engaged in a relationship with a BID employee. What a tangled web we weave...

If you remember, this is one of BISD Superintendent's Rene Gutierrez's imports from Hidalgo County who was brought in to show the local yokels what top professional leadership is all about. Both of these individuals commanded $100,000-plus salaries. 

If that's the cream of the crop, we wonder what's lurking just below the surface.