The public purchasing seminars were held almost two months apart at the end of September and November 2017.
According to the invitation to attend sent by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), both seminars, called The Procurement Roundup 2017, were "designed for public education professionals with emphasis on the latest developments that are essential in educational purchasing."
The first one was held at South Padre Island September 27, 28, and 29 and three participants from the Brownsville Independent School District's purchasing department attended. For three days they stayed at the Island and attended the program for which they received 15 hours of continuing education. The district paid Interim Administrator Delia Rodriguez, District Travel Specialist Mayra L. Castañeda, and Junior Buyer Sandy Villanueva $1,025 for the courses and they came home after the seminars.
But less than two months later – on November 30 through December 1 – the women, minus Villarreal, put in another request to the BISD administration to attend a second seminar by the Institute for Supply Management with identical courses in San Antonio.
The ISM's Procurement Roundup 2017 featured the same course offerings "intending to highlight the latest developments that are essential in the purchasing management of public educational institutions."
Since both women had attended the ISM's three-day seminar on South Padre Island, some BISD administrators were surprised to see that the travel and lodging request by Rodriguez and Villanueva (Castañeda bowed out at the last minute) were routinely approved by Interim Purchasing Administrator Rodriguez who had attended the SPI seminar, CFO Lorenzo Sanchez, and BISD Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas.
This administration signed off on a $2,578 purchase order for the two women to stay at the upscale Manger Hotel from November 29 to Dec. 2, and to pay for a car from the local Enterprise Rental company for five days. They also approved five days of professional leave for the women.
How can the BISD administration justify and sign off on five days of professional leave for these two employees when the San Antonio trip was only a two-day conference? And how did they approve the payment of rental of the car from Wednesday through Monday, also five days, have been the questions floating around the district since they made the extended trip.
After the conference, did the women stay in San Antonio an extra day and use the rental for another two days? Is waste and redundancy business as usual at the BISD?