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BISD VS. JUAREZ ON; JUDGE ASKS BISD FOR FORENSIC AUDIT EVIDENCE
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<span style="font-weight: normal; ">By</span><b> Juan Montoya</b><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Not only did the lawsuit filed by the former Chief Financial Officer against four Brownsville Independent School District trustees go on as planned, but the district was also ordered to produce the entire findings of the recently completed forensic audit performed on the district.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Judge Andrew Hanen set Aug. 30 as the date for the parties to begin jury selection in the lawsuit filed by Antonio Juarez. Two trustees currently on the board â€" Rolando Aguilar and Joe Colunga â€" as well as as two former ones, Rick Zayas and Ruben Cortez, will have to answer the charges as individuals that they violated the rights of the former financial chief after they disagreed with his recommendations on the district's Stop-Loss insurance contract. </div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Hanen had previously denied the defendants' motion for a summary judgement giving them qualified immunity for their actions on the case. They appealed to the Fifth Court of Appeals and lost. A further motion for a rehearing was not granted by the appeals court without comment.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">The district is also charged in the lawsuit.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">More tellingly, perhaps, Hanen said he would allow the plaintiff to amend his original complaint to include potential charges of conspiracy against the four and other district employees. He also said he would allow the plaintiff''s lawyers to depose other parties that may have been injured by the actions of the defendants.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">"If this case goes forward, it'll lay bare the way the former majority operated," said an attorney acquainted with the Juarez case. "The fact that he ordered the district to produce the entire port, and not just the executive summary leaves all possibilities open."</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Juarez, as you will remember is the former CFO who went to the feds after several of the defendants had previous superintendent Hector Gonzales remove him from his position after he recommended the wrong insurance company.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">The defendants were expecting him to recommend the company whose local agent of record was Johnny Cavazos, their benefactor.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Instead, Juarez refused to play along with the defendants and went to the FBI with tape recordings where he was being persuaded on behalf of the four to blame Gonzales for the recommendation. In short, he argued, he was being counseled to use the district's grievance process and give the former board majority the justification to terminate the former superintendent.<br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-7950630178186495541?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/03/bisd-vs-juarez-on-judge-asks-bisd-for.html
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LOADED WORDS: WHAT IN TARNATION IS HOLGAZANEAR?
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<div>By <strong>Juan Montoya</strong></div><br /><div>In the Spanish to English online dictionary, the word "holgazanear" is defined as "to idle, laze or loaf around."</div><br /><div>The word was contained in a translation of an English-language letter written to all BISD bus drivers by Transportation Department administrator Art Rendon.</div><br /><div>The offending clause said in English: "BISD school buses are not to be used by employees to loiter in once they have finished their routes Employees may not use a bus t<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAOrfCNzSDChx-T9AtEpbX1BtP3FWVgo7r1Nai-0dqJ877uhLF_Gaqt1RICIgrpcR1f1QON75rHh7KUv5rdC7ZGqbajm4Zkc_zIGGtyZRU4JGOgCpFQ0XxKtIOhQT0v5J8dQNfYScSQ3U/s1600/bus.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725011739119587810" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAOrfCNzSDChx-T9AtEpbX1BtP3FWVgo7r1Nai-0dqJ877uhLF_Gaqt1RICIgrpcR1f1QON75rHh7KUv5rdC7ZGqbajm4Zkc_zIGGtyZRU4JGOgCpFQ0XxKtIOhQT0v5J8dQNfYScSQ3U/s320/bus.jpg" /></a>o visit with coworkers."</div><br /><div>The Spanish translation stated: "<em>Los autobuses escolares del distrito no deberan ser utilizados por los empleados para holgazanear cuando ya hayan terminado sus rutas. Los empleados no deben de ir a otros autobuses para visitara sus compañeros de trabajo."</em></div><br /><div>Even though the word "loiter" in one form does mean "<em>holgazanear"</em> in formal Spanish, the connotations associated with it differ from person to person. In the case of the bus drivers, many apparently took the word to mean that they were loafers or did not possess the work ethic or the will to work. In other words, <em>"maltrabaja."</em></div><br /><div>This is quite different than the relatively neutral "loiter," or "hang out" that do not impugn the character or values of the subject. </div><br /><div>Why Rendon or his assistants chose to use that loaded word in the missive titled "Guidelines for clocking in and clocking out/Other General Procedures" is beyond us, but apparently the drivers and their supporters were not pleased.</div><br /><div>Lost in the translation (if you will) were other parts of the letter that did not belabor the point. For example, the administration was not cutting the number of hours to 32, but rather, as was stated in the letter, guaranteed 32 works weekly. It did, however, proscribe the manner of clocking and and out when the routes were over to deter unauthorized accumulation of hours not worked.</div><br /><div>Additionally, the letter prohibited drivers from "engaging in games of chance or pyramid schemes during working hours or on district property. The collection or solicitation of money by one employee to another for the purpose of promoting games of chance or pyramid schemes is prohibited."</div><br /><div>Just what is that referring it to?, we wonder. Is it actually gambling, or the locally popular <em>"tanda,"</em> where pools of investors (say 10) chip in a set amount ($20) every week and then take turns getting $200 when their place on the rotation comes around?</div><br /><div>Or is it office pools like those collected in the March Madness in college basketball or "porras" during the Dallas Cowboys season?</div><br /><div>Regardless, the missive also prohibited sexual harassment or other behavior leading to a hostile work environment, washing the buses outside the scheduled washing rotations, taking a bus anyway after a cancellation had been posted, etc. </div><br /><div>The district noted that drivers are assured of 32 hours of employment each week including benefits such as free health coverage and paid days for vacation, illness and holidays. There are also opportunities to earn additional and overtime pay for student trips when necessary, the district said in a prepared statement.</div><br /><div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-6276666389268680292?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/03/loaded-words-what-in-tarnation-is.html
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IT LIVES! CORTEZ RUNNING FOR TEXAS BOARD OF EDUCATION
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By <strong>Juan Montoya</strong><br /><br />We heard about the recent fundraiser and "greet and meet" that former Brownsville Independent School District trustee Ruben Cortez held at the popular eatery Ricardo's.<br />We also know that Cortez is currently named in at least two pending federal lawsuits where the plaintiffs â€" former Superintendent Hector Gonzalez and former Chief Financial Officer Tony Juarez â€" have charged him along with the former majority (Rolando Aguilar, Rick Zay<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrXh_nomSxMyJFrKjHF-w_CorDNzDEZK94oBf4UAtbCd1XP0CbKIdBVgtM6XSmm-FT7I55KAzo-4kFqWjHopQk-g4c08EZDMjtbS7DIQ3SP1WelPhyCEFG5_OBZwjQA63hyCUYFVFPPDo/s1600/cortez-ruben.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 138px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5724982148044806002" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrXh_nomSxMyJFrKjHF-w_CorDNzDEZK94oBf4UAtbCd1XP0CbKIdBVgtM6XSmm-FT7I55KAzo-4kFqWjHopQk-g4c08EZDMjtbS7DIQ3SP1WelPhyCEFG5_OBZwjQA63hyCUYFVFPPDo/s200/cortez-ruben.jpg" /></a>as, and Joe Colunga) with retaliation and filed Whistle blower Act lawsuits claiming retaliation and firing as a result.<br />In at least another lawsuit filed against the former majority the BISD has opted to settle with former Special Needs Director Art Rendon for his termination by the four and the district for going to the federal authorities with evidence that when the four asked him to turn a blind eye to alleged wrongdoing, he refused and went to the FBI instead.<br />Ditto for Juarez.<br />Because of redistricting, all 15 seats on the Texas State Board of Education will be up for grabs in the November 2012 elections.<br />District 2, serves the counties of Aransas, Calhoun, Cameron, Goliad, Jackson, Kenedy, Kleberg, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Victoria, Wharton and Willacy, as well as parts of Hidalgo County.<br />And guess who's running for the seat now held by Mary Berlanga of Corpus Christi who has announced she will not seek reelection?<br />None other than our own Ruben Cortez, who was soundly defeated in the 2010 elections where the electorate threw out his business partner Zayas and rejected the candidacy of Otis Powers who tried to make a comeback.<br />In his statement to the Texas Freedom Network, Cortez states that:<br />“I believe in a common sense approach. We must keep politics out of the classroom and this includes textbooks."<br />Now, to all of us that are acquainted with Ruben, this is hilarious. If ever there was a political animal, that would be Ruben. His mom Linda used to be on the BISD school board and is now running for reelection as a Justice of the Peace. His partner and him now hold the commissary contract at the Cameron County Jail and until there was an outcry in the local newspaper, were awarded the contract without the benefit of competitive bidding. It just so happened that his cousin was chief deputy at the sheriff's department.<br />They still hold the contract and rake in more than $500,000 a year from their captive audience and charge prices to the prisoners twice or three times what they could buy from local retailers.<br />In the Rendon lawsuit, sworn depositions indicate that Cortez forced the administration there to overlook the fact that the application period for a position in the department had expired and insisted that they hire his relative. After browbeating (and with three witnesses present), he got his relative hired.<br />Meanwhile, the Juarez case where he alleges bid-rigging on an insurance contract and the abuse of the grievance process to terminate employees using one against the other is ongoing. So is the Gonzales case where the principals allege that Cortez and the others conspired to fire both men (Juarez and Gonzales when they didn't get their way on the insurance contract).<br />And still lurking out there are the allegations that Cortez has been delinquent on his property taxes for years. In fact, expect more on this topic as we clear up the mess involving his purchase of a home from among properties forfeited by the local D.A.<br />And this is the guy who wants us to elect him to the Texas State Board of Education?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-6376651149243997760?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/03/it-lives-cortez-running-for-tea.html
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