The things some people do at the Brownsville Independent School District do never ceases to amaze us.
Whether it's trustee-vendors discussing purchases in an open meeting, serving on the board being city employees in direct violation of personnel policy, creating Political Action Committees to target trustees, ordering golden rings without authorization, etc., the list just goes on and on.
Now we hear that one of the maverick characters of the city – Faulk Middle School coach Charlie Atkinson – a former U.S. Customs agent who has also served as a city commissioner, almost got himself placed as a coach in the athletic department staff of Rivera Early College High School.
We say almost because the effort was nipped in the bud when it was discovered that the BISD administration didn't know he had been reassigned and sent up the ranks from his position at Faulk.
From what we have been able to ascertain, Faulk Principal Benita Villarreal released Atkinson so he could transfer to Rivera where principal Norma Canales was willing to accept him. With the football season coming in the Fall, Atkinson moved in to the coaching offices and set up shop at the Rivera coaching offices. He even called up student athletes to participate in Tutor Day.
But there was only a slight hitch. None of the coaches under Rivera Athletic Coordinator Tom Chavez – who is also Interim AD for the BISD – had been told Atkinson was being transferred to their department. When they found out, they went to the BISD administration and demanded to know how that had come about.
It is reported that no one under Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas or Chavez knew about the "transfer" and Atkinson was told to return to his position at Faulk.
But some people close to the athletic department at the BISD said they saw something was up since the last district coaching conference when he openly challenged former National Football League player – and now Lopez Early College High School Athleteic Coordinator – Jason Starkey and said he would teach him "how the game is played."
With the Faulk Middle School experience under his belt, Atkinson was reported to have told the former NFL center who played for the Arizona Cardinals for four years after he graduated from Marshal, that his team at Rivera would beat his Lopez 11. No one knew what he was talking about and they ignored his rant.
It wasn't until Atkinson suddenly appeared on the Rivera campus that the other coaches realized that he had known all along that he would get a transfer there. Is it a coincidence that he is related to Sandra Powers, the Assistant Athletic Coordinator under Chavez? Did she know?
With the BISD atheltic department in a flux, it is not beyond the imagination that if Chavez is made the AD of the district, Atkinson would be positioned to advance quickly up in the pecking order.
But as soon as the BISD administration got wind of the matter, they set about to reverse the transfer and Charlie returned to Faulk.
This is not the first time Atkinson has attempted a lateral move. He made the front pages of the local daily some time back.
In 2008, he had then-City of Brownsville Director of Aviation Larry Brown issue him a badge given to airport employees, contractors and U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspectors stationed at the Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport. It allowed them access to secure areas.
Brown said he issued Atkinson a badge because he was a U.S. Customs inspector. Although Atkinson is not stationed at the airport, Brown said Atkinson told him that he could be stationed there at some point.
The local daily reported then that Atkinson was stationed at the Gateway International Bridge. City Manager Charlie Cabler told them he had been unaware that the city issued Atkinson a badge.
After the brouhaha erupted over the badge, Atkinson was made to return it.
At the time, Atkinson maintained that Customs officials told him that he could get a badge from the city instead of the federal agency.
The latest incident led some wags who remembered the old StarKist Tuna commercial about the tuna who was trying to impress the company with his good taste instead of tasting good.
"Sorry, Charlie, Rivera wants coaches who have taste, not coaches who have connections."