Four of the seats on the EPISD board are up for election in May.
Those seats represent districts 1, 3, 4, and 5.
The deadline to file is this Friday, February 17, 2017 at 5 PM.
We deserve better
Brutus
EPISD–board election
February 14, 2017
7 Comments | 
El Paso Independent School District | 
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Posted by Brutus
EPISD–one of the hardest jobs in America
February 13, 2017We missed the Friday, February 10, 2017 article in the Times titled “EPISD leader’s new contract includes more perks” and thank a loyal reader for pointing it out.
Some of us may be upset with the shell game that the district played in hiding the details. The Times persisted and after three weeks the district finally provided a copy of the contract changes.
Failure to provide the requested information within ten business days is probably a violation of the Texas public information act. Will we see a county commissioner writing a personal letter to our district attorney asking the prosecutor to look into this?
Obscene
There has already been a lot of public outcry about the superintendent’s contract. The newly disclosed provisions will cause more.
The galacticly stupid comment the superintendent made to the Times when they were looking into the hidden contract benefits will cause even more outrage:
“Cabrera called his position “one of the hardest jobs in America” …
It is hard to imagine that he could think that much less say it out loud.
Any of us could site classroom teaching jobs in his district that are more difficult than his.
It almost seems that the superintendent wants to be fired.
School board
Other than the president of the school board, the district’s board has been quiet about this.
We have an election coming up this May.
We deserve better
Brutus
29 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Houses on sand
February 12, 2017It seems that we have a very active group in this country that disagrees with parts of our constitution.
Instead of using the mechanisms the constitution offers to make amendments, some of them want to change the rules by supreme court fiat and public opinion.
At the end of the day what is written in the constitution is the only definitive set of rules that control our government.
If not then we don’t have a set of rules but instead will be governed by a committee.
Just as we are seeing that presidential executive orders can be reversed by a new president, any court ruling can be negated by a future court. Anything short of formally modifying the constitution is founded on quicksand.
We deserve better
Brutus
1 Comment | Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Goals you don’t know that you have
February 11, 2017They’re at it again.
The city has scheduled a special city council meeting for February 16, 2017.
There is one item on the agenda:
Discussion and action on the update of the Strategic Plan: Goals for the City.
Curious?
Would you like to know about the update, the strategic plan, or the goals for the city?
There is no backup material posted with the agenda item.
City ordinance 018031 requires that backup material be posted no later than 6 P.M. on the Wednesday before the meeting since the city is operating with a four day week.
Does anyone want to place a wager as to whether they let us see the material before the presentation at the city council meeting?
We deserve better
Brutus
4 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
It’s who you know not what you know
February 10, 2017El Chuqueno published a piece the other day that included this quote:
As you commence your seventh term in office, I write to respectfully urge the office of the Disrict Attorney of the 34th to investigate recent possible violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act and actively pursue any enforcement measures deemed appropriate, if violations occurred. These alleged violations involving county boards and municipal representatives weaken public trust in our local government entities and I firmly believe that your office’s examination into these important matters can help reassure the public that violations of the Act are taken seriously, and that appropriate measures are actively used to enforce it.
That evidently came from a letter from one of our county commissioners to our district attorney.
Commence
“As you commence your seventh term in office”–what is that about?
Was there a message there that we are missing? Starting the request with “I write …” explains the purpose of the letter. Why the reference to the district attorney’s tenure?
Action
It seems that the district attorney plans to take some of the issues to a grand jury. Why now? Where has our district attorney with six terms of office been during the other corruption situations that have been plaguing us?
We deserve better
Brutus
8 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
elpasospeak 
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