Grand Prairie ISD ‘boots’ Arredondo
Approximately two months ago, a story was published in The Advance that indicated that Grand Prairie ISD (Dallas metroplex) had fired former PSJA ISD Superintendent Jorge Arredondo after only two months on the job, July through September, as the district’s new supe. The vote was 4-2 to dismiss him, with one abstention.
According to a board statement, Arredondo violated Grand Prairie ISD policy regarding “discrimination, harassment, and retaliation involving District employees.”
Basically, the same sort of allegations for which he was accused of (unofficially) while working at PSJA ISD and Houston ISD before that.
In fact, there was a book written, in part, about Arredondo’s time spent at Houston ISD — “Whispers of Hope – The Story of My Life.”
The book was written by former Houston ISD Principal Bertie Simmons, an educator of 58 years who died in 2021. Amazon and Barnes both have the book for sale ($8.99), which was published in November 2019, right about the time Arredondo got the supe’s job at PSJA ISD.
As it turned out, Arredondo filed a lawsuit against Grand Prairie ISD, and his attorneys got a Dallas County judge to grant him a temporary restraining order, preventing the GP Board from officially terminating his employment at the next school board meeting or even discussing the matter. (Source: KERAnews.org.)
This Monday, the Grand Prairie board was able to move ahead with Arredondo’s termination, 5-2, after filing a notice to have his suit moved to federal court, which invalidated the Dallas County judge’s TRO. (Source: NBCDFW. com.)
After the vote, the attorneys representing the now-unemployed supe released this statement to the public:
“This is an ill-advised decision that will only result in further legal action against the district and individual board members. Throughout his brief tenure Dr. Arredondo acted solely in the interests of the district’s students and faculty, and no credible evidence has been produced that he violated any district policy. Dr. Arredondo is obviously disappointed, as are many in the Grand Prairie community. However, he remains confident that his name will be cleared and the motivations behind this wrongful termination will be exposed.”
In the lawsuit styled — Jorge L. Arredondo, plaintiff, vs. Grand Prairie ISD and the Board of Trustees — the former PSJA supe wrote that, contrary to his employment contract, he was never given sufficient details “about any alleged complaint, (and) he was never given a full and fair opportunity to respond, or to present any evidence or witnesses in his defense.”
Nor was he even provided, the suit claims, with a written statement “ of the reasons for his suspension.”
This was nothing more than a witch hunt, or so Arredondo claimed.
As he did at PSJA, Arredondo also brought with him two colleagues to his new Grand Prairie gig last spring, both of whom are also now on paid suspension.
'After a thorough investigation and the advice of legal counsel, I am confident that we made the right decision based on policy and the Texas Education Code,' GPISD board president Amber Moffitt said in a statement released by the district Tuesday morning.
'Dr. Arredondo acted solely in the interests of the district’s students and faculty, and no credible evidence has been produced that he violated any district policy,' Arredondo's attorney, Mary Nix, said in the statement. 'Dr. Arredondo is obviously disappointed, as are many in the Grand Prairie community. However, he remains confident that his name will be cleared and the motivations behind this wrongful termination will be exposed.' (Source: NBCDFW.)
The district was in obvious disagreement: 'After a thorough investigation and the advice of legal counsel, I am confident that we made the right decision based on policy and the Texas Education Code,' GPISD board president Amber Moffitt said in a statement released by the district Tuesday morning. (Source: CBSNews.com.)
Arredondo may now choose to ask for a hearing before a TEA hearing officer, and then, an outside law firm is usually called in to look over the district’s case, as it were, against Arredondo. That whole process can take between eight and 10 weeks, according to a local source familiar with the process.
After that, TEA has 45 days to issue a ruling.
Meanwhile, Arredondo will continue to deposit his salary in the bank.
After that, if he isn’t happy with TEA’s ruling, he has 30 days to appeal directly to the TEA commissioner.
If he loses that final battle, the former Grand Prairie ISD’s superintendent’s pay will cease, but he’s still free to file a lawsuit against the district.
And so it goes.