On January, 2019, the board of the Brownsville Independent School District, by a 7-0 vote, voted to place Superintendent Dr. Esperanza Zendejas on administrative leave based on an inquiry into projects she implemented during a drive to upgrade facilities across the district.
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The board did that despite the fact that just three months before, on October 2018, the same board gave her a two-year contract extension that boosted her annual salary to $305,000.
Yesterday, the Education Service Center, Region 2 (ESC-2), Board of Directors announced the selection of Zendejas as head of the ESC-2 starting next Wednesday.
A month later, in February, Zendejas announced her resignation from the BISD following a negotiated agreement with the board.
Later, in September 2019, Zendejas landed employment with the San Benito ISD taking over as the San Benito school district’s human resources director.
Zendejas, who first served as Brownsville’s superintendent from 1992-1995, returned to the district’s top administrative position in June 2015.
She will be the first female and first Hispanic to head ESC-2.
Zendejas has been around the track once or twice and knew from her precious tenure as superintendent in Brownsville, Indianapolis, and California that when board membership changes, the superintendent is often the first casualty and makes arrangements – such as her two-year contract approval a few months before her departure – before the hammer falls.
Although some readers said that she would now have oversight over the BISD, that is not correct since BISD falls under Region 1. As overseer of educational experts and consultants, Zendejas said she is looking forward to starting at ESC-2 and "to make a difference and help improve the lives of children" there.
