Following a state-mandated conservatorship and years of squabbling board members, the Texas Schooling Company determined Wednesday to overtake South San Antonio Unbiased Faculty District’s complete board of trustees.
The state additionally appointed Saul Hinojosa, a retired superintendent for Somerset ISD, as South San’s new superintendent.
Texas Schooling Commissioner Mike Morath appointed Hinojosa and a very new seven-member board of managers, citing almost 20 years of elected trustee and administrative dysfunction, wherein he mentioned resulted in “diminished scholar tutorial outcomes, poor monetary controls, public mistrust and a number of TEA investigations.”
South San ISD’s board has been underneath TEA investigation 4 occasions, twice in 2021 and twice in 2023.
The choice to take over South San ISD comes after the TEA discovered the district was in violation of 5 totally different state schooling codes and demonstrated the district “didn’t oversee the administration of the district when it engaged in actions or inaction that might negatively impression district personnel and the scholars of SSAISD.”
Talked about within the investigation’s last report was the board’s lack of ability to maintain a superintendent for a full time period since 2011, repeated failures to satisfy quorum throughout board conferences and the district’s $12 million price range deficit.
In line with the report, the TEA’s Particular Investigations Unit will advocate to the Commissioner of Schooling {that a} sanction be issued as much as and together with the set up of a Board of Managers that replaces the present board of trustees because of the present board’s demonstrated lack of ability to make sure adherence to state regulation necessities regarding governance.
Abelrado “Abe” Saavedra was appointed because the district’s conservator in 2023 by the TEA. Saavedra was tasked with guiding the board and reporting again to the TEA.
Although the outgoing board of trustees appeared to be on an upward trajectory in September after Saavedra advised the Report that “issues had calmed down,” Saavedra had despatched a letter to Morath final 12 months urging him to put in a board of managers.
Within the letter, Saavedra mentioned the answer would “facilitate a clear break from the governance failures which have persevered in South San Antonio ISD and facilitate a chance for the district to be ruled by neighborhood members who can implement greatest practices and supply clever oversight and powerful governance.”
In line with Steve Lecholop, deputy commissioner of governance on the TEA, the state takeover of South San ISD is just the tenth district overhaul to happen since 2000.
Who’s taking on?
Picked out of 20 candidates, South San ISD’s new state-appointed superintendent beforehand led Somerset Unbiased Faculty District for 15 years. He had additionally been working as a search advisor for Walsh Gallegos, a serious regulation agency that assists faculty districts in Texas in vetting and choosing superintendent candidates for the board to interview.
Whereas Hinojosa was at Somerset ISD, he turned an academically struggling district into one given an A by the state in accountability rankings.
“Our objective is to attain the identical right here in South San,” Hinojosa mentioned Wednesday after the TEA’s overhaul announcement.
Hinojosa mentioned his first precedence as superintendent might be to satisfy neighborhood members by attending month-to-month conferences at campuses all through the district.
“Proper now could be day one — I’m simply gathering knowledge, speaking to workers,” Hinojosa mentioned. “Gathering some experiences with a purpose to verify what our main challenges are and what we have to do with a purpose to appropriate that.”
The state-appointed board of managers had been chosen from a pool of 57 candidates, and 5 of them are graduates from South San ISD. The brand new members embody Raymond Tijerina, Karla Gomez Sanchez, Darrell Balderama, Adrian Guerra, Kelly Murguia, Aurelina Prado and Jesus Rendon III.
Tijerina was chosen to be the brand new board’s president, and is a cofounder and CEO of a San Antonio-based academic assist firm that helps faculty techniques with hiring practices. The board’s vp might be Sanchez, who works from residence and has kids who attend colleges within the district.
How lengthy it will take for South San ISD to get again on observe is a tough query to reply, Hinojosa mentioned. However he’s banking on his expertise at Somerset, a district he entered underneath comparable circumstances, to have a “recipe of what success appears like.”
What occurs subsequent?
Solely two of the board’s managers stay inside South San ISD’s boundaries, a requirement for elected faculty board members.
Since 5 of the members are alums of the district, and the opposite two stay and work on the South Aspect, Lecholop mentioned the TEA was assured that the appointees “mirror the values of the neighborhood and are members of the South Aspect neighborhood.”
Beneath Texas regulation, the Commissioner of Schooling should determine to both proceed the state takeover or implement a three-year rollback to elected management by the two-year anniversary of the announcement date of the takeover.
Outgoing faculty board members can’t object to the overhaul after they waived that authority in 2023 in alternate for the company delaying the state-takeover choice for a 12 months.
The newly-appointed board’s progress might be measured utilizing the Lone Star Governance Framework, which was created by the TEA for governing our bodies — district boards and superintendents — whose predominant precedence is to “enhance scholar outcomes.”
“The board of managers has the duty of placing into place techniques and processes which are sustainable, which are baked into the inspiration of how the district runs, so that after a return to elected management occurs, there are greatest practices that the elected leaders can comply with,” Lecholop mentioned.
