Only 6 months into the job, Grand Prairie ISD votes to fire Superintendent Jorge Arredondo

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By Alfred Charles | Dallas Morning News (TNS)

The Grand Prairie ISD School Board voted 5-2 Monday night to terminate the contract of embattled Superintendent Jorge Arredondo just shy of the school chief’s six month anniversary in the role.

Arredondo joined the district after previously leading Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD. He has spent more than two decades in public education.

The decision to part ways with the superintendent occurred after a closed-door executive session of the board and the impassioned pleas of several speakers who urged the board to retain Arredondo in the role.

“The board has not given him an opportunity to defend his actions performed during the brief time he has been our superintendent,” speaker Gracie Cortez, who told board members she has lived in the city for over 35 years, said before the termination vote. “You are not allowing Dr. Arredondo to use his leadership style to improve and enhance our district, which is what he was hired to do.”

After hearing from public speakers, the seven board members quickly adjourned to an executive session to discuss a personnel matter as permitted under state law.

After reconvening in public session, the board voted quickly to terminate Arredondo’s contract with only members Gloria Carrillo and David Espinosa voting against the move. None of the school board members commented publicly during the meeting about their vote or the decision that led to the board action.

While trustees have not provided details, they’ve previously made references to violations of district policy related to discrimination, harassment and retaliation.

It did not appear that Arredondo was present during the meeting. In a written statement, Mary Nix, an attorney for the superintendent, said the board’s decision was improper.

“This is an ill-advised decision that will only result in further legal action against the district and individual board members,” she said in the statement. “Throughout his brief tenure Dr. Arredondo acted solely in the interests of the district’s students and faculty, and no credible evidence has been produced that he violated any district policy.”

The drama surrounding Arredondo’s employment has upended the school system, which has about 27,000 students. The district is the largest employer in Grand Prairie, with roughly 4,000 staffers.

In an interview with The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday, Espinosa said the trustees could have decided to send the superintendent to professional development courses or put him on a growth plan before resorting to termination.

“There’s a lot of other options before going to this extreme. This is going to cost us a lot more money,” Espinosa said, referencing costly superintendent payouts in other districts.

“I’m sure he’s going to fight for his job, for his reputation,” he said. “We’re looking at a lot of tax dollars being spent.”

School trustees have not elaborated publicly on why they are dissatisfied with the administrator whom they hired in a unanimous decision and who started the job on July 1 under the terms of a three-year contract.

The dispute grew quickly with Arredondo, a Hispanic man, who was placed on administrative leave on Sept. 4. He turned to the courts, filing a lawsuit in which he alleged that he “almost immediately faced resistance and interference” from trustees. The court filing also accused some trustees of questioning his decisions regarding the reassignment of principals and the allocation of resources.

Some trustees “made disparaging and discriminatory remarks about Plaintiff’s race, national origin, and language, including implying that Plaintiff was favoring Hispanic students and staff over other groups which was demonstrably not true,” Arredondo’s lawsuit said.

A Dallas County judge blocked the board from firing Arredondo, but that decision was made moot when the board said it wanted the case to be heard in federal court. That paved the way for the board’s action Monday night to terminate the superintendent.

Staff writer Talia Richman contributed reporting to this article.

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