BISD APPROVES CONTRACT NON-RENEWALS; BOARD TO TRIM ABOUT $1 MILLION IN "REDUNDANT" TOP-PAYING POSITIONS

XII.B.20. Recommend approval for the proposed non-renewal of a term contract professional (F.S.) at the end of the 2020-2021 School Year.

XII.B.22. Discussion regarding the non-renewal for non-chapter 21 contract professionals (M.A and M.S.) at the end of the 2020-2021 School Year.

XII.B.23. Discussion regarding the non-renewal for non-chapter 21 contract professional (L.V.) at the end 2020-2021 School Year

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Trying to decipher the actions of the board of the Brownsville Independent School District when they emerge from executive session and make sense of the motions to "proceed as discussed in closed session", is like trying to read a fog-filled crystal ball.

Unless you are well versed in cryptology, it is a seemly confusing endeavor as the board members vote to approve or disapprove of items by their place on the agenda.

But this much we have been able to gather from the board's meeting last Tuesday.

1. On the first item above (X11.B.20.), the board made no mention of it. That item referred to Frank Sauceda, a Supervisor in the Department of Pupil Services at the Central Administration Building of the BISD, who was reportedly found drinking in the parking lot by Sams Stadium, who some callers reported that he was "related" to current and former district administrators.

Sauceda is the husband of Dr. Dora E. Sauceda, currently Assistant Superintendent Curriculum, Instruction and Accountability.

You remember Dora.

She was rehired by the BISD after she went up north and ran into a little trouble up in Dallas ISD in 2012.

The Dallas Morning News reported that Dr. Dora had submitted a $4,082 invoice for moving expenses from C&W Moving to move her and Frank, to Dallas in July.

The company wasn't registered with the Texas Secretary of State, nor was it registered with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, as state law requires. The address for the moving company was to a home registered to Frank and Dr. Noe Sauceda, Frank’s brother.

Noe, if you will remember, Noe Sauceda was the BISD superintendent.

The scuttlebutt in the district is that these ties that bind have allowed Frank Sauceda to indulge in a life-long bacchanal while being paid handsomely to fill a position in name only. Reports indicate that this is not the first time that Frank had indulged while on the job. The reports also assert that this is not the first that the BISD police have responded to calls involving Frank and his alcohol-related issues.

The reason the item wasn't discussed in the Tuesday meeting was that before the meeting, Frank Sauceda resigned his top-paying position. Turn out the lights...the party is over.

The next item (XII.B.22.) refers to an M.A. and M.S. and is a vote for non-renewal. We can verify that the M.A. refers to former Records Management and Warehouse director Martin Arambula, a former Brownsville Navigation District trustee who also ran for Cameron County Judge.

We have been unable to learn the name of the M.S., only that she was Arambula's secretary at Records Management. (We stand corrected. It refers to Melissa Saenz, not Myrna Saldivar Zertuche as we had been informed. Our apologies.) 

An investigation by the BISD Police Dept. apparently revealed that the pair had been performing some outside work for personal profit with other school districts, particularly with Edcouch-Elsa CISD. The department was also in charge of recycling for the BISD. Now, apparently, these two will have to try to recycle their carers instead.

And last, but not least,we have (XII.B.23.), which refers to 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 cooled off. 

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.

If you remember, Villareal is one of BISD Superintendent's Dr. Rene Gutierrez's imports from Hidalgo County who was brought in to show the local yokels what top professional leadership is all about. Leadership by example? We fear not.

The non-renewed individuals will remain on the job until the end of this school year in the beginning of June.

We ran into BISD Board President Eddie Garcia who – in discussing personnel matters in general – said that the board now had an eye on what he called unnecessary and "redundant" top-paying positions in the various district departments inserted there by previous administrations and boards.

He said that with the elimination of some of these "parcaidista" positions, the district stood to shave about $1 million in salaries which could go to other personnel instead. Classroom teachers, perhaps?

"We've told you that this board is very different than previous boards," Garcia said. "We're going to trim some of the unnecessary fat that was there from before. We have no one to be accountable to than to the taxpayers and parents of the district. And we are going to be transparent about it, too."