Did any Latino Board Members get indicted? NO!
For about a year, the Latino Board Members were raked over the coals by the sham TEA investigation. That sham investigation failed to uncover the bribery scheme, as they were so focused on finding fault with the Latino Board Members. Anyone who knows how HISD or any other government agency works would have realized that the TEA findings could not have been done by those HISD Board members without the cooperation of someone in the administration. But TEA never looked at the administration, why?
The reputations of those members were destroyed by a bogus investigation that was encouraged by Republicans and certain Black Board members.
One of the alleged violations was having a Walking Quorum. What is amazing is that when an allegation of a walking quorum replaced a Latina superintendent, neither the state nor the major media seemed to care how she was replaced.
In 1994, after superintendent Petruzielo left the district, the school district voted 6-1 to make Yvonne Gonzalez the interim superintendent; the school district board members described this as a “symbolic” motion as Gonzalez was the first Hispanic interim superintendent. Gonzalez served until Rod Paige became the superintendent.[22][23]
When the TEA’s report was done, the Courts had already declared the Walking Quorum statute unconstitutional.
Will the Houston Chronicle, bloggers, and other media apologize to those Latinos and Latinas whose reputations they destroyed while they joined the Latino haters? I wouldn’t hold my breath as one thing is consistent here in Houston since the 1980s, the so-called Latino leadership does not exist, they are all a bunch of sheep in it for the money that they can make as elected officials.
Below are some of the allegations leveled at certain board members. They were pointing fingers in the wrong direction, maybe to cover their misdeeds?.
Did the HISD Board of Trustees act individually on behalf of the Board, exceeding the scope of their
authority in violation of Tex. Educ. Code §11.051 Governance of Independent School District?
The following findings of fact are a result of interviews and an examination of HISD internal documents.
- On January 29, 2019, SIU investigators interviewed the Principal for the High School of Law and Justice. The Principal recalled an incident in 2018 with Trustee Davila during a site visit of the High School for Law and Justice campus. “I am in a brand-new campus. As it was being built, Diana Davila had a tour of the campus without my knowledge… I found out about it on Twitter … when I saw her pictures with my construction manager, and them taking pictures of the new building. Then I got a phone call from my project manager, as Trustee Davila told the construction people to take a wall down out of my new campus out of the courtroom. I became a little upset. They took that wall down. I went to the HISD Senior Administrator and I told him, ‘she can’t do that’, and he says that, ‘I’m very aware that she cannot do that. If you want the wall back, we will put the wall back up.’”
- On April 16, 2019, SIU investigators interviewed an HISD Administrator. This administrator
corroborated the principal’s account that Trustee Davila gave a directive to modify construction of a classroom while on a site tour. The administrator stated, “One project we just finished was High School for Law… it was pretty much done with the construction or the particular areas was done and it was one of the feature areas which was the courtroom set up like a full courtroom, a mock courtroom because it was actually a classroom… So that was all done and at a board member’s request all of that had to be changed just off a site tour.” During a site visit, Trustee Davila directed that a completed mock courtroom be changed. Initially, the room was a mock courtroom, within a classroom. During her site visit, Trustee Davila complained that the courtroom was too small and directed the construction services administration, including the administrator to change it. The administrator provided the construction change order documents. (See Exhibit 2.1)- The change order states that the total cost of changes to the mock classroom amounted to $20,000. When asked who ultimately approves a change like this, the administrator responded, “it was a trustee said it and it was done. I know what you’re looking for, yes, it’s out of protocol, that’s the simple answer.” When asked if this was overreach by a trustee, the administrator responded, “yeah, cause I mean, I have to manage that budget and you just made a request, that you don’t care about… but I have to figure out how that money works, I have to call in that favor with that contractor.”
- According to the principal, and the administrator’s testimony, Trustee Davila conducted a campus visit without letting the campus principal know and instructed the construction team to make material modifications to an area that was already built. Page 33 of 66
- An HISD senior administrator was directed to remove a contract for the construction of Austin High School in December 2016. The HISD senior administrator stated Trustee Davila asked him to remove the Pepper Lawson contract from the January board agenda after the procurement process had occurred. Moreover, Trustee Davila and her husband told the administrator that they wanted a firm out of Dallas, wanted him to make it happen, and threatened him with his job if he did not do it. Although the administrator refused to remove the contract from the agenda, a former board president took the liberty to remove the agenda item. Subsequently, the agenda item was placed on the February 2017 regular board meeting. (See Exhibit 2.2 and Exhibit 2.2.1)
- On October 3, 2018, Trustee Santos hosted a campaign event on HISD property paid for by the district. The event, “Field Good Day”, was not sponsored by HISD (See Exhibit 2.3). Although rustee Santos indicated she would cover the cost of the event, she failed to submit payment. A HISD senior administrator confirmed Trustee Santos did not pay for the event.
- Trustee Santos misused her role as a trustee when visiting the Hattie Mae White Educational
Support Center. The administrator told SIU, “Santos was getting all this food and not paying for it. She tells people, ‘I am a trustee and board services covers that.’” The administrator stated board services did not cover the cost of those meals because it was not in policy to do so.- During a workshop with Deputy Commissioner AJ Crabill and HISD administration regarding
Improvement Required campuses, Trustee Davila expected principals to explain what they needed so trustees could provide resources to prevent another failing year. Principals refused to speak over the superintendent, prompting Trustee Davila to say, “Let me be clear, I won’t hesitate to vote you out when your contract comes up if you don’t tell me what you want right now, because your four
schools are in the playoffs.”- A Senior HISD administrator told SIU that Dr. Lathan set protocols in place to prevent trustees from interacting with staff and enforced the use of the board service referral system. Additionally, Dr. Lathan had to address the issue with the board several times in writing as well as during closed session at their retreat.
So, where is the Superintendent who is supposed to be in charge? Why didn’t she know about the bribery? Why didn’t any of the principals tell her that it comes out of their budget? Seems that too many unanswered questions were left unanswered. But she did leave for greener pastures.
The bold part above indicates that the principals are in charge of the budget, so how could they not have been aware that they were paying too much for landscaping? All they had to do was look out the window to see if the grass had been mowed. Did some of the principals report it to the administration, and it was just hushed up? Were the principals too scared to report, fearing for their jobs? TEA never explored there because they were there to make the Latino Board Members look bad, in my opinion. So most of those board members got defeated at the next election, and the community got board members who know they have to kiss the business community’s behind.
Well, the business community got rid of those pesky Latinos, but it did not go too well for them when it came to selling a bond election.
The largest school bond proposal in Texas history was rejected Tuesday in a big statement by Houston voters.
Houston ISD’s $4.4 billion bond package, which appeared on ballots as Propositions A and B, failed to gain voter support, according to unofficial election results released by the Harris County Clerk’s Office. Nearly 58 percent of voters opposed Prop A, which sought $3.96 billion for school rebuilds and renovations as well as safety and security upgrades, while Prop B, which sought $440 million for technology systems and infrastructure, was rejected by more than 58 percent of voters.
The bond vote could be considered a referendum on the district’s state-appointed superintendent and board of managers, installed by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in June 2023 because Wheatley High School had a string of failing accountability ratings from the state. Widespread instructional reforms contributed to initial improvements in standardized test scores but also prompted pushback from parents, educators and community members, who adopted “No trust, no bond” as a rallying cry.
