Brownsville superintendent keeps job following board meeting

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Brownsville Independent School District's superintendent still has a job after a school board meeting Tuesday night.

Without an explanation, there was a failed attempt to terminate Jesus H. Chavez.

CBS4's Derick Garcia was at the meeting Tuesday night and reported that many teachers from the district stood up for Chavez. They also called the attempt by several board members "petty" and "unnecessary."

"We have individuals who want to waste our time on this consuming and weird and intense focus on firing the superintendent," Adina Alegria, a TVEA executive director, said.

Board trustees Carlos Elizondo and Minerva Pena pushed to have Chavez's termination on Tuesday's agenda.

When asked if she believes there is an agenda behind this, Alegria replied, "Yes. I firmly believe that there is. I don't think that there would be such a witch hunt and now it has just become weird."

After the meeting, the agenda item went nowhere, with board members not taking action to terminate Chavez.

"We ended up not taking action on the item. I believe that the community showed a lot of support for the superintendent, and we're happy with his leadership," Board President Daniela Lopez Valdez said.

Lopez Valdez said she would not have sided with Elizondo and Pena.

"I would have voted that we continue his contract. I think he has proven his leadership," she said.

Professionalism also seems to be a topic of discussion among board members after a verbal altercation between Elizondo and Chief Financial Officer Alejandro Cespedes and Board Secretary Pat Perez.

At the Feb. 13 board meeting, there was a $350 million bond proposal. A majority of those monies would go to the districts crumbling infrastructure and facilities and would not have raised taxes.

However, trustees Elizondo, Pena and Frank Ortiz voted against letting community members vote on an upcoming election, but Brownsville Educators Stand Together President Patrick Hammes says Elizondo went too far after the meeting.

"At the end of the meeting board member Carlos Elizondo walked over to Mr. Cespedes and tried to intimidate and bully him into saying that the tax issue would be a tax increase," Hammes said.

Secretary Perez intervened with Elizondo cursing at her and she fired back at him raising her tone. Perez was put on admin leave without pay and reinstated after nearly a month.

This is the decision that Hammes believes is the reason Elizondo wanted a vote to have Chavez terminated.