By Juan Montoya
The jury trial of a teacher-coach who claims was denied an athletic director position at Besteiro Middle School because "she didn't know football" by the Brownsville Independent School District and sued the district for gender discrimination is underway in the 197th District Court.
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In her lawsuit filed September 28, 2017, Patricia Salgado, a 10-year employee of the district as a teacher and coach, said that despite being recommended by former Besteiro A.D. Albert Alegria and principal Kathleen Jimenez, two male applicants were selected over her.
She charged that "at least one of the selections, Mr. Ben Sandoval, did not possess the minimum qualifications. The other male selection changed his mind after being approved and was allowed to be selected to another position of his choosing at Porter High School.
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"However, Defendant’s administration believe that men make better athletic directors because, “they know football”. At least, this is the opinion of Mr. Julio Martinez, A.P. and possibly others such as Jason Starkey and Tom Chavez who were on the interviewing committee. They voted to award the position to the male applicant she says was less qualified.
Salgado further charged that she has been discriminated based upon her gender and a male dominated mentality that she must know football, that assumes that a woman is not capable of being an AD because of the sexist attitude that she does not understand nor has the ability to coach a sport because of her sex.
Further, she says that on or about August 26, 2016, she submitted under a complaint of discrimination that is required to be investigated by the BISD HR Department. It took nearly eight (8) months for an investigation to be conducted and an additional two (2) months to receive a report, she states.
She further claims that she was further retaliated against by the district by refusing to hire her as the Athletic Director and its refusal to investigate her complaint for opposing workplace discrimination. Currently, there is not one female Athletic Director serving in that capacity in the BISD.
In her lawsuit, Salgado says she seeks monetary relief over $200,000.00 but not more than $1,000,000 plus attorneys fees. She asked for a jury trial.
In its response, the BISD denied all the allegations and said that her non-selection was based on legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons unrelated to her gender and says the lawsuit is "frivolous, unreasonable, and without foundation."
Court watchers would say that the above is par for the course in one of these lawsuits, but there have been some unexpected turns of events.
For example, after Ass. District Judge Louis Sorola denied the district's motion for summary judgment on June 1 and ruled that the trial could proceed, the BISD attorneys June 7 moved to have him recused from the case because he had been listed as a legal representative for fellow district judge Elia Cornejo in a grievance against the BISD.
Sorola was listed as Cornejo-Lopez representative but never performed any work for her on the complaint. However, he agreed to recuse himself and the case is being heard by Judge Migdalia Lopez.
Salgado's witness list includes 12 BISD administrators including Chavez, Jimenez, and Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas. Zendejas' role in the matter is of some interest because there are allegations that she placed a personal call to the school's administration and allegedly influenced the final selection of the Besteiro A.D.
There is another off quirk to this case which does not bode well for the BISD. The court heard an argument outside the presence of the jury on a spoilation issue because the interview files of the applicants for the Besteiro A.D position had gone missing.
The court then issued an order June 11 that the jury be instructed on the fact that the district could not produce the interview files because they were missing.
The jury trial of a teacher-coach who claims was denied an athletic director position at Besteiro Middle School because "she didn't know football" by the Brownsville Independent School District and sued the district for gender discrimination is underway in the 197th District Court.
In her lawsuit filed September 28, 2017, Patricia Salgado, a 10-year employee of the district as a teacher and coach, said that despite being recommended by former Besteiro A.D. Albert Alegria and principal Kathleen Jimenez, two male applicants were selected over her.She charged that "at least one of the selections, Mr. Ben Sandoval, did not possess the minimum qualifications. The other male selection changed his mind after being approved and was allowed to be selected to another position of his choosing at Porter High School.
"However, Defendant’s administration believe that men make better athletic directors because, “they know football”. At least, this is the opinion of Mr. Julio Martinez, A.P. and possibly others such as Jason Starkey and Tom Chavez who were on the interviewing committee. They voted to award the position to the male applicant she says was less qualified.Salgado further charged that she has been discriminated based upon her gender and a male dominated mentality that she must know football, that assumes that a woman is not capable of being an AD because of the sexist attitude that she does not understand nor has the ability to coach a sport because of her sex.
Further, she says that on or about August 26, 2016, she submitted under a complaint of discrimination that is required to be investigated by the BISD HR Department. It took nearly eight (8) months for an investigation to be conducted and an additional two (2) months to receive a report, she states.
She further claims that she was further retaliated against by the district by refusing to hire her as the Athletic Director and its refusal to investigate her complaint for opposing workplace discrimination. Currently, there is not one female Athletic Director serving in that capacity in the BISD.
In her lawsuit, Salgado says she seeks monetary relief over $200,000.00 but not more than $1,000,000 plus attorneys fees. She asked for a jury trial.
In its response, the BISD denied all the allegations and said that her non-selection was based on legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons unrelated to her gender and says the lawsuit is "frivolous, unreasonable, and without foundation."
Court watchers would say that the above is par for the course in one of these lawsuits, but there have been some unexpected turns of events.
For example, after Ass. District Judge Louis Sorola denied the district's motion for summary judgment on June 1 and ruled that the trial could proceed, the BISD attorneys June 7 moved to have him recused from the case because he had been listed as a legal representative for fellow district judge Elia Cornejo in a grievance against the BISD.
Sorola was listed as Cornejo-Lopez representative but never performed any work for her on the complaint. However, he agreed to recuse himself and the case is being heard by Judge Migdalia Lopez.
Salgado's witness list includes 12 BISD administrators including Chavez, Jimenez, and Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas. Zendejas' role in the matter is of some interest because there are allegations that she placed a personal call to the school's administration and allegedly influenced the final selection of the Besteiro A.D.
There is another off quirk to this case which does not bode well for the BISD. The court heard an argument outside the presence of the jury on a spoilation issue because the interview files of the applicants for the Besteiro A.D position had gone missing.
The court then issued an order June 11 that the jury be instructed on the fact that the district could not produce the interview files because they were missing.