By Juan Montoya
We should have seen this coming.
With the deftness of a troll wielding a bludgeon, Brownsville Independent School District Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas rammed through a nearly 10 percent increase in property taxes in one fell stroke with the support of four trustees who chose to support her without even considering asking the public for their opinion.
This was a story of a death foretold, since the move to increase taxes to build new facilities had been advocated by the likes of trustees Phil Cowen and Joe Rodriguez for months during meetings of the Facilities Committee headed by Cowen.
At a previous meeting CFO Lorenzo Sanchez had counseled the board that the $100 million he wanted to raise could be done by placing a bond issue election before the taxpaying public or the same amount of money could be raised by a simple majority vote of the board. With the support of a majority made up of Rodriguez, Carlos Elizondo, Cowen and Cesar Lopez, Zendejas and Sanchez got their way.
Only Dr. Sylvia Atkinson and Minerva Peña did not heed her siren's song. And calls by Atkinson for a town-hall type of meeting where the public could air their opinion on the matter went by the wayside. The majority vote assured the superintendent that the district's taxpayers will shoulder the extra taxes and will have no say in the matter.
This is about par for the course with Zendejas and her majority.
Since she was hired as superintendent through the intervention of trustee Rodriguez, the board has moved through issues that affect the community without consulting with the people who will end up paying for their choices.
Even the way she was hired should have given us a clue on the style of governance of the district, easily the biggest employee in the city with more than 7,000 employees and some 48,000 students.
Zendejasgate: When she was named interim superintendent, Rodriguez and the board promised that the community's input would be sought for a nationwide search for a permanent superintendent. There was extended discussion on establishing a community advisory committee to help the board in its choice. And Rodriguez even suggested a consultant from the Harlingen ISD to help the committee.All that was forgotten and Zendejas – who handed in an outline of her resume – was named as a permanent superintendent without the niceties of a selection process or even a consideration of any other candidates.
From there on, the board majority and Zendejas have done as they have seen fit, sometimes to the detriment of taxpayers and students, and often the embarrassment of the community.
Take, for example, some of the highlights of the Zendejas-Rodriguez regime:
Anillogate: When the administration decided that the 2016 Porter high School Soccer team which won a state title deserved championship rings at $895 apiece, it was the company associated with Rodriguez's BSN Sports that was chosen without the niceties of competitive bidding. Less than five days after the team won, Zendejas had already decided that Herrf Jones would provide the rings at $895 each for students and $995 for non-team members such as the coaches, principals, and herself and Rodriguez.
No one would admit ordering the rings or issuing a purchase order. In fact, the entire procurement process was ignored. It wasn't until emails from Zendejas to a competitor ring seller (see graphic above) was discovered that the public learned that it has been her and the Porter coaching staff who had chosen the vendor and ordered them without a purchase order. Rodriguez and Zendejas got "complimentary" rings at $995 each as a "volume discount" on the 41-ring purchase. Why Rodriguez?
Barbacoagate: The district – through the Region One Buy Board – contracted with vendor Valco Foods to purchase $100,000s of Mexican barbacoa, a food item high in saturated fat, but lucrative to the company that landed the rich contract. In a statement put out by the district after batches of the meat turned out to be rotten, it said: "The product was raised and purchased in the United States from a USDA approved vendor but was processed in Mexico according to USDA guidelines and under the supervision of a USDA inspector."Not really, we later found out. The succulent lard-laden antojito Mexicano has very little nutritional value, as can be seen in the nutritional facts label at left. It however, made its vendor rich at nearly $6.50 a pound.
Then we found out that the USDA was not really pleased with the idea of using federal funds to buy the greasy meat from Mexico. The USDA prohibits the use of federal funds to purchase any product from outside the country. After the debacle, USDA investigators swarmed over the district and Region One offices trying to track how the vendor was able to sell its wares to school districts in South Texas. The issue got so hot that it resulted in the apparent "suicide" of the BISD director of its Food and Nutrition Service, Silverio Capistran. So far, no one knows who engineered the scam and who profited from the sale of the Mexican meat.
Turfgate: According to notes taken at a meeting between former purchasing administrator Rosie Peña, Zendejas, and former CFO Lucio Mendoza, the super decided that the district should spend millions (so far $4.5 million and rising) to put artificial turf on three high school soccer fields. There was no procurement process followed and no other companies were allowed to bid. Using the Buy Board formula again, Zendejas said that she decided on the expenditure and the company (Paragon Sports) "over coffee" with her fellow superintendents. When Peña complained that the company had not been vetted by Purchasing, she got the axe and was sent packing to Food and Nutrition Service, the Siberia of the BISD.
ITabletgate: After an attempt to similarly select a provider for Itablets for fifth graders in the district, Zendejas was forced to follow the bidding process as a result of using restricted federal funds to acquire them. She was forced to follow the procurement process and ended up buying them from company in Virginia. The $1.5 million purchase was approved by her board majority and trustee Cowen said the students and parent were clamoring for the tablets. Well, she got her tablets, but the students did not. It won't be until next school year that the students will see them. By that time, there is no guarantee that they won't be obsolete technology.
EMTgate: The district, again without going through a procurement process, approved a contract with International Academy of Emergency Medical Technology, L.L.C, of which Justin Oakerton is the owner, and which was awarded a contract to teach EMT courses in the BISD from August 2016 until June 2018. BISD records indicate that before Oakerton teamed up with the fire chief, the firm had a contract from 2009 to 2014.
During that previous five-year period, the BISD paid International Academy of Emergency Medical Technology $417,840 to teach EMT courses.
But after the company was awarded the most recent contract, records indicate that it has been paid $313,660 between July 2016 to August 2016 for the period from July 2016 to June 2017. (See graphic, click to enlarge.)
Oakerton has had a long association with trustee Carlos Elizondo, who is said to be his silent partner in the deal.
With that track record under her watch, what other surprises (gates upon gates) await the BISD taxpayer?