THE TEMPEST IN THE BISD TEAPOT: ENRIQUE VS. CATA

By Juan Montoya
They used to be part of the majority on the board of the Brownsville Independent School District.
At one time, Enrique Escobedo, Catalina Presas-Garcia, Lucy Longoria and Dr. Christina Saavedra were seeing eye to eye on most matters.
After being part of the minority that were regularly run over by the majority of past and current board members Ruben Cortez, Rick Zayas, Rolando Aguilar and Joe Colunga (sometimes joined by Minerva Peña), they weathered the storm and in the 2010 round of elections established themselves as the ruling junta.
Then cam the parting of the ways,
Some say it was a feeling of mutual hurt sensitivities that made them part their ways. Others say it was simple personality differences. Nonetheless, today, Escobedo is the board president and is joined by Otis Powers, Hector Chirinos, and Minerva Peña to attain the magic number 4 that rule the roost.
They voted on Escobedo's motion to censure Presas-Garcia, a mainly meaningless move that accomplished nothing except increase the bad blood between them and divert the board from the district's business of educating children.

The sordid past of the former majority under Aguilar has now been forgotten, only to be replaced by a discordant majority that is – according to supporters of the new majority of Presas-Garcia, Longoria and Saavedra – tyrannical in its running of the board meetings and pressing forward its agenda of 4.
Nowhere to be seen is Power's election campaign rhetoric of a Team of Eight that included the seven board members and superintendent Carl Montoya.
In the latest meeting, Escobedo and his majority of 4 pressed forth a censure motion on Presas-Garcia and succeeded in...well....it's hard to say what that motion accomplished.
For her part, Garcia's item on the agenda to have the administration verify the board members' credentials and educational qualifications never made it past the administration or the board president Escobedo.
The board's legal counsel has changed. It's insurance provider has changed as well and the Old Guard that used to control the lucrative contracts to the $500 million business of the BISD is also going through a transformation.
Escobedo bristles at the suggestion that he is engaging in any quid-pro-quo with the port board of commissioners. And Presas-Garcia goes ballistic over the majority giving Escobedo a free hand in appointing trustees to the chair of the district's committees. She, who is especially proud of her handling of the budget committee, was unceremoniously replaced by trustee Chirinos who – to be charitable – proved during his stint at the Transportation Department to be budget challenged.
Powers is back on board and still wants to go his vendor-sponsored moose hunt. Peña is still trying to relive her pom-pom girl days, and Chirinos misses his entourage at Porter and Transportation.
Hopefully, this spat between otherwise serious people will blow over and cooler heads will prevail on the business of educating our students who need it so much.