By Juan Montoya
Today during the 2:30 p.m. hearing set in federal court to hear 404th District Judge Elia Cornejo-Lopez's motion for a Temporary Restraining Order against the Brownsville Independent School District, Judge Andrew Hanen is also being asked by three defendants to quash the subpoenas served on them.
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Cornejo-Lopez also wants Hanen to allow her son to drop-add a course if the one he wants isn't being offered.
BISD Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas, former Asst. Superintendent Carlos Guerra, and board secretary Patricia Perez all filed motions Dec. 29 asking Hanen to throw out the subpoenas served upon them by a process server while Cornejo-Lopez was present.
The plaintiffs – Lopez-Cornejo individually and as next friend of L.G.L. an L.M.L (Leo and Lucy Lopez, her son and daughter) – contend that the BISD has discriminated against them and deprived them of a long litany of constitutional rights. On of those is the defendants' alleged unequal treatment in not getting GPA credit for Advance Placement courses for an exam taken in middle school for which credit is given only to high school students.
Another is for not allowing one (L.G.L) to take an AP Psychology course on the grounds it is a course designated for 11th and 12th graders. L.G. L. is a freshman.
All three were served with subpoenas on Dec. 21, the last day of school before Christmas vacation. Classes resume January 8. It was also Guerra's last day before he retired from the BISD.
In her motion to quash the subpoena, Zendejas states that she was at home on Dec. 21 when at approximately 10:15 p.m. she "observed a white SUV waiting at the driveway of her house as the doorbell rang. Because (she) did not recognize the vehicle, she didn't answer the door. The next morning, as (she) walked out of her house, the same SUV drove up. A woman ran out of the vehicle and attempted to serve (her) with a subpoena.
"At the same time (she) observed Elia C. Lopez videotaping her. (She) asked the server to please meet her at the district's administration building. At that time, the process server threw the subpoena into Dr. Zendejas' car."
The three defendants say that Cornejo-Lopez' subpoena to appear in federal court January 3 – in the middle of planned vacations – and requiring them to bring certain documents available only to the district's record custodians places an undue burden on them. The documents they are commanded to bring are in the sole possession of the BISD, and not in their possession, they said.
The only issue of irreparable injury subject to theTRO hearing would be that Leo would allegedly not be able to take the AP Psychology course, Zendejas contends. All three assert that all the other documents they are commanded to produce bear no relevance to the plaintiffs' motion for a TRO.
Cornejo-Lopez also filed an amended supplemental motion for the TRO citing a "substantial threat of irreparable injury" to Leo saying that Veteran Memorial High School Counselor Laura Torres had informed her by email on Nov. 17, 2017 that AP Psychology is not being offered in the Spring of 2018 "After and only AFTER the filing of this lawsuit and the application for a TRO did the defendant, for the first time, state that AP Psychology is not being offered in the Spring of 2018 semester.
(This might be a typo since Cornejo-Lopez and her kids filed the complaint on Nov. 30, according to the federal docket. Did she mean Torres emailed her December 17, 2017?)
"Therefore, plaintiff requests any AP course offered in the Spring of 2018 semester, specifically, bot not, limited to AP Macro Economics, AP Micro Economics, or AP Government."
Will Hanen quash the subpeonas based on the the manner in which Cornejo-Lopez had the three BISD officials served (with her present) and the alleged undue burden placed upon the defendants to appear with documents during the holiday vacations? Will he apply the rule that "No person who is a party to or interested in the outcome of a suit may serve any process."
Was Cornejo-Lopez, a plaintiff and former lea attorney obviously overseeing the process server who she had paid for the service, by being present and videotaping the service, violate the service rule?
And will Hanen (asked to be placed in the role of high school counselor and registrar), allow Leo to take an AP course which is restricted to 11th and 12th graders before there are any findings of fact so he can attend the cours January 8?
Today during the 2:30 p.m. hearing set in federal court to hear 404th District Judge Elia Cornejo-Lopez's motion for a Temporary Restraining Order against the Brownsville Independent School District, Judge Andrew Hanen is also being asked by three defendants to quash the subpoenas served on them.
Cornejo-Lopez also wants Hanen to allow her son to drop-add a course if the one he wants isn't being offered.
BISD Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas, former Asst. Superintendent Carlos Guerra, and board secretary Patricia Perez all filed motions Dec. 29 asking Hanen to throw out the subpoenas served upon them by a process server while Cornejo-Lopez was present.
The plaintiffs – Lopez-Cornejo individually and as next friend of L.G.L. an L.M.L (Leo and Lucy Lopez, her son and daughter) – contend that the BISD has discriminated against them and deprived them of a long litany of constitutional rights. On of those is the defendants' alleged unequal treatment in not getting GPA credit for Advance Placement courses for an exam taken in middle school for which credit is given only to high school students.
Another is for not allowing one (L.G.L) to take an AP Psychology course on the grounds it is a course designated for 11th and 12th graders. L.G. L. is a freshman.
All three were served with subpoenas on Dec. 21, the last day of school before Christmas vacation. Classes resume January 8. It was also Guerra's last day before he retired from the BISD.
In her motion to quash the subpoena, Zendejas states that she was at home on Dec. 21 when at approximately 10:15 p.m. she "observed a white SUV waiting at the driveway of her house as the doorbell rang. Because (she) did not recognize the vehicle, she didn't answer the door. The next morning, as (she) walked out of her house, the same SUV drove up. A woman ran out of the vehicle and attempted to serve (her) with a subpoena.
"At the same time (she) observed Elia C. Lopez videotaping her. (She) asked the server to please meet her at the district's administration building. At that time, the process server threw the subpoena into Dr. Zendejas' car."
The three defendants say that Cornejo-Lopez' subpoena to appear in federal court January 3 – in the middle of planned vacations – and requiring them to bring certain documents available only to the district's record custodians places an undue burden on them. The documents they are commanded to bring are in the sole possession of the BISD, and not in their possession, they said.
The only issue of irreparable injury subject to theTRO hearing would be that Leo would allegedly not be able to take the AP Psychology course, Zendejas contends. All three assert that all the other documents they are commanded to produce bear no relevance to the plaintiffs' motion for a TRO.
Cornejo-Lopez also filed an amended supplemental motion for the TRO citing a "substantial threat of irreparable injury" to Leo saying that Veteran Memorial High School Counselor Laura Torres had informed her by email on Nov. 17, 2017 that AP Psychology is not being offered in the Spring of 2018 "After and only AFTER the filing of this lawsuit and the application for a TRO did the defendant, for the first time, state that AP Psychology is not being offered in the Spring of 2018 semester.
(This might be a typo since Cornejo-Lopez and her kids filed the complaint on Nov. 30, according to the federal docket. Did she mean Torres emailed her December 17, 2017?)
"Therefore, plaintiff requests any AP course offered in the Spring of 2018 semester, specifically, bot not, limited to AP Macro Economics, AP Micro Economics, or AP Government."
Will Hanen quash the subpeonas based on the the manner in which Cornejo-Lopez had the three BISD officials served (with her present) and the alleged undue burden placed upon the defendants to appear with documents during the holiday vacations? Will he apply the rule that "No person who is a party to or interested in the outcome of a suit may serve any process."
Was Cornejo-Lopez, a plaintiff and former lea attorney obviously overseeing the process server who she had paid for the service, by being present and videotaping the service, violate the service rule?
And will Hanen (asked to be placed in the role of high school counselor and registrar), allow Leo to take an AP course which is restricted to 11th and 12th graders before there are any findings of fact so he can attend the cours January 8?