Our El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) board of managers has shown us again that they make up the rules as they go.
In June they passed a board policy that did not allow the superintendent to hire or fire his most senior staff (the cabinet).
Then when they decided to hire a new superintendent they evidently wrote something different into his contract.
Do as I say, not as I do
The Texas Association of School Boards stepped in and suggested that the district might want to keep their policies and their contracts consistent.
The latest board action changed their policy to require the superintendent to notify the board before he makes any public announcements about changes to his cabinet. He evidently can hire and fire at will.
Telling us what he thinks
The president of the board was quoted in the El Paso Times:
“We have to have our policies aligned with contractual obligations we’ve entered into with the superintendent,” he said. “It’s perfunctory. It’s not material, it’s perfunctory.”
If the definition of perfunctory is “carried out with a minimum of effort or reflection”, I would certainly have to agree with the board president.
Existing policies evidently deserve minimum reflection from this group.
By the way, how can the district be “independent” when the State of Texas has engineered a coup and replaced our elected school board with an appointed one?
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Taxation without representation.
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The president should have considered his choice of words or then again, maybe he mean exactly what he said.
The definition of perfunctory is an action or gesture carried out with a minimum of effort or reflection. That definitely fits. The president and his board took the easy way out and failed to give thoughtful consideration to this change.
So, let me get this right. We now align our policies with our contractual obligations to new hires rather than aligning such new contractual obligations with our existing, supposedly well-designed policies. That’s definitely perfunctory — a lack of effort and thought on the part of the board.
This matter might not be “material” to the board, but it is certainly material if you’re a person being terminated. Last time I checked, hiring involves salaries, which involves money and contracts, both of which are also material.
But I’m sure the president knew all of that.
My perfunctory response would have been… Well, you wouldn’t post it.
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Soon after Lorenzo Garcia was hired he asked the board for full power, after all TASB suggested it was a good idea. Look at what happened. After Garcia was arrested, I introduced policy that would limit the superintendents power. All personell from Principals on up needed board approval. The BOM just gave it all back. How sad !
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So this means the new superintendent can unilaterally fire someone even if that termination requires a significant severance package or a buyout of the employee’s contract. How is that not material? Is this what passes for new and improved oversight?
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Just curious – does anyone know if BOTH the EPISD trustees (elected) and board of managers (appointed) are being paid?
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No payment, All school board trustees in Texas are volunteers. The only person in the Board of Managers that gets paid is Dr. Castleberry
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Really, the EPISD board should be given no power by the state until all those on whose watch this occurred are out of office.
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