By Juan Montoya
We sure hope this is not true, but the rampant rumor mill at the Brownsville Independent School District has aged coach Joe Rodriguez (with two strokes in the bag) stepping down and rethread board member Rick Zayas taking over for his mentor.
That comes as other rumors swirl on the possible hiring of 404th District Judge Elia Cornejo-Lopez replacing Baltazar Salazar, the board's counsel and inheriting his $264,000 salary.
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Rodriguez, whose control of the board's majority oversaw the spending of millions of this cash-poor BISD budget on artificial turf for high schools and even middle schools while the administration was asking teachers to spend just a bit more of their personal money of classroom supplies for students.
A firm championed by Rodriguez – Paragon – has kept its workers and managers in the dough. We hear that they have become the favorites of some ladies who brag about spending only 15 minutes for a $300 payoff. The BISD taxpayer no sabe pa quien trabaja.
"Lo paga todo el BISD," one of them told us recently.
Rumors also indicate that Dr. Sylvia Atkinson's ascent to the BISD board will also carry her brother Charlie (former city commissioner and aduanal) upward in her tide. There's already talk of Charlie catapulting over the ranks of the district's coaches and assuming an important position, perhaps even AD.
Noting is impossible. Remember that he was allowed to work on his certification while holding a job as a coach at Faulk. His hiring led to charges by at least one unemployed (but certified) coach that there was favoritism (gasp!) being practiced at the district.
If Zayas does come in through the back door, it will be a vindication of his assertion that he was beaten by Lucy Longoria way back when because of dirty politics.
But unlike the time when he was on the board, there is no $130 million in the BISD fund balance to play with anymore. After his and Ruben Cortez's stint on the board, that went down to $68 million, and the BISD is at that point again.
Newly-elected trustee Philip Cowen came in bragging about how he built schools, raised teachers wages omparable to those in Dallas, and did all that without a bond issue. Well, Phil, this ain't your granma's BISD anymore. Now we have an aggregate of special interests gnawing at the $525 million budget that won't take no for an answer.
Good luck to you with that one.
We sure hope this is not true, but the rampant rumor mill at the Brownsville Independent School District has aged coach Joe Rodriguez (with two strokes in the bag) stepping down and rethread board member Rick Zayas taking over for his mentor.
That comes as other rumors swirl on the possible hiring of 404th District Judge Elia Cornejo-Lopez replacing Baltazar Salazar, the board's counsel and inheriting his $264,000 salary.
Rodriguez, whose control of the board's majority oversaw the spending of millions of this cash-poor BISD budget on artificial turf for high schools and even middle schools while the administration was asking teachers to spend just a bit more of their personal money of classroom supplies for students.A firm championed by Rodriguez – Paragon – has kept its workers and managers in the dough. We hear that they have become the favorites of some ladies who brag about spending only 15 minutes for a $300 payoff. The BISD taxpayer no sabe pa quien trabaja.
"Lo paga todo el BISD," one of them told us recently.
Rumors also indicate that Dr. Sylvia Atkinson's ascent to the BISD board will also carry her brother Charlie (former city commissioner and aduanal) upward in her tide. There's already talk of Charlie catapulting over the ranks of the district's coaches and assuming an important position, perhaps even AD.
Noting is impossible. Remember that he was allowed to work on his certification while holding a job as a coach at Faulk. His hiring led to charges by at least one unemployed (but certified) coach that there was favoritism (gasp!) being practiced at the district.
If Zayas does come in through the back door, it will be a vindication of his assertion that he was beaten by Lucy Longoria way back when because of dirty politics.
But unlike the time when he was on the board, there is no $130 million in the BISD fund balance to play with anymore. After his and Ruben Cortez's stint on the board, that went down to $68 million, and the BISD is at that point again.
Newly-elected trustee Philip Cowen came in bragging about how he built schools, raised teachers wages omparable to those in Dallas, and did all that without a bond issue. Well, Phil, this ain't your granma's BISD anymore. Now we have an aggregate of special interests gnawing at the $525 million budget that won't take no for an answer.
Good luck to you with that one.