Dirty trick

May 6, 2014

Our non-elected board of managers of the El Paso Independent School District is playing a dirty trick.

They have scheduled a special meeting of the board for today (May 6, 2014) at 2 PM.

On the agenda are numerous changes to personnel policies that will, among other things,  give our not qualified superintendent the right to pick which teachers to fire.

Having the meeting at 2 PM will make it hard for teachers and members of the public to show up and voice their thoughts.

Cowardly

Yes some difficult decisions will need to be taken at the district in order to get the budget in balance.  Leaving the teachers out of the dialogue is not fair.  On this same agenda they are proposing millions of dollars worth of unnecessary construction.

Scheduling the meeting when the teachers are working is a dirty trick.

Normally I would not advocate people shirking their jobs.  In this case I hope that the teachers get the blue flu and attend the board meeting.

The chief financial officer of the city is on the district’s board of managers.  She wants to be the city manager.  Is this how she plans to conduct business at the city?

Shame on them

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Should we start over?

May 5, 2014

I for one would prefer that we not promote one of the two city employees that are in the running for the position of city manager.

We need a new approach at the city, one that is open and respects the citizens.   The Times referred to our current city manager’s “sharp elbows”.  We need more cooperation from our city manager and less arrogance.

Calling the citizens “crazies” showed how disconnected our city manager is.

The chief financial officer of the city is one of the candidates.  The numbers she has been providing to city council have been wildly wrong.  Does she provide them out of ignorance or does she do it at the request of the city manager?   Either way her behavior is unacceptable and clearly not the best thing for the citizens.

I don’t know much about the other city candidate.  His biography page on the city web site indicates that he has a finance background.  The two million dollar error in the police payroll happened during his watch and under his department.  He certainly did not use his finance background  to save us from the horrible over-spending that we have observed under this city manager.  Will we get a “more of the same” city administration from him?  Does he have experience running a large organization?

Crossing the current city manager can be disastrous for your career.  If he agreed with what has been going on then I don’t want him.  If he has disagreed then at what point did he have a duty to represent the citizens?

The two other candidates are from out of town.

It is pretty safe to assume that one was eliminated by the Times article.  Whether the stories are true or not, El Paso should not have to deal with the doubt.

I sure hope that the other out of town guy is worthy of the job.

The mayor should be upset with the search team.  Should he demand our money back?

We deserve better

Brutus

 

9 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

What a cad

May 4, 2014

Our central appraisal district executive director is trying to stiff the public in a way that other local government entities do.

The Times has filed what is commonly called an open records request asking to see the travel records relating to the executive director for the last year.

The district wants to charge the Times $404 for the 80 documents.  They claim that the clerical work required to comply with the request is the cause of the exorbitant charge.

If the district’s accounting records are in such disarray that it truly takes 22 hours to assemble the documents, then we need a new accounting system and a new boss at the district.

If the high charge is designed to discourage the Times, then we need a new boss at the district.

Unfortunately many in local government think that those who make open records requests are the enemy.

We deserve better

Brutus

7 Comments | El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

EPISD shift

May 3, 2014

Studying the 1968-1969 El Paso Independent School District personnel directory, I am beginning to understand judge Session’s ruling in Alvarado v. El Paso Independent School District.

The judge’s order is remembered by most of us as the one that caused school busing here in the 1980’s.  Now I see that it also affected personnel, facilities, and curriculum.

The directory lists the employees of the district, including educators and support staff.  Looking at some of the hispanic surnames explains some of the judge’s concern.

The web site genealogy.about.com lists Garcia as the most common hispanic last name.  The district directory lists 35 Garcias with 14 of them being educators (40%)  and 21 being support personnel (60%).

Eight out of the 27 employees with the last name Martinez were educators (30%).

Of the 37 people with the last name Smith, 25 were educators (68%).  Jones came in with 14 listings and 7 educators (50%).

Something got better

Brutus

3 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

The Times loses again

May 2, 2014

According to this article in the electronic version of the El Paso Times our El Paso Chihuahuas beat the Fresno Grizzlies in the first game ever played in the new ball park.

 

grizzlies2

The Chihuahuas unfortunately lost and so did the Times.

They want us to buy their electronic editions but do not seem to care about fundamental things like accuracy and truth.

Do they have any sense of responsibility left?

We deserve better

Brutus

 

10 Comments | Ball park, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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