WERE SHARKS ALLOWED IN BISD WADING POOL?

By Juan Montoya
Many of us missed it, but it may not be over.
On Fab. 19, during a meeting of the Brownsville Independent School District, an item allowing something called the Community Loan Center was passed over the objections of at least two board members who were not allowed to speak after they questioned the district's involvement with allowing local banks to make  loans to district employees.
The "product" involved are so-called small-dollar loans backed by nine local banks in the Brownsville area and administered by an outfit under the auspices of the Rio Grande Multibank headed by Eva Arambula Woodfin, sister of Martin Arambula, the district's record manager director.
Under their plan, the CLC was approved by a 4-3 majority of the board (Enrique Ecobedo, Otis Powers, Minerva Peña, and Hector Chirinos) to solicit business from employees for loans up to at an 18 percent interest rate.
Those voting against it were Catalina Presas-Garcia, Lucy Longoria and Dr. Christina Saavedra.
Before Escobedo cut off discussion on the item by making a motion to approve, Presas-Garcia had questioned BISD employee benefits/ risk-management administrator Judy Cuellar whether any other lender had been allowed to make a bid to provide BISD employees the service.
Before the Escobedo-Presas-Garcia exchange culminated in Escobedo closing the discussion, Tony Juarez, Asst. Superintendent for Human Resources, dissuaded the board from entering into a Memorandum of Understanding proposed by the proponents by simply having the lender issue a bank draft that would have removed any responsibility from the district for the commercial transaction.
The upshot of the proposal was that it would protect BISD employees from rapacious pay-day loan outfits that have proliferated in South Texas. They argued that of the 20,000 or so pay-day loan companies in the region, 4,700 are car title loan companies that have repossessed at least 87 cars as a result of nonpayment of their one-month loans.
They also said that there were already 29 small businesses in the city whose employees were "on board" with the CLC.
However, this did not sit well with Presas-Garcia who said that the BISD's business was not in "this type of business. We're in the education business" and suggested that there was a "quid pro quo" involved with another item involving BISD's Arambula, who has been asking for a raise in salary because of what he said were increased duties involving recycling of district waste.
This drew a sharp rebuke from Escobedo who complained that he did not understand why the item had suddenly become so controversial.
"That allegation is criminal," Escobedo said. "That's a very serious allegation."
Longoria, who had circled the item for discussion and tried to ask questions was not allowed to address the administrators and complained that under the proposal which included the 18 percent interest rate "our employees are getting ripped off."
Still lingering int the air is the possibility that the dissident faction on the board will ask the Texas Attorney General for an opinion on whether the actions by the district in approving the CLC's proposal was legal and whether the district incurred any liability in even considering the matter without the benefit of viewing other proposals as a deliberative body.