PSJA superintendent, once again, will attempt to repair 258 doors

PSJA ISD has a security problem, but despite two failed attempts to gain board approval to remedy the situation, Superintendent Dr. Alejandro Elias, EdD, is still stuck with 258 exterior metal doors, spread out across 23 of the district’s 48 campuses, deemed unsafe not once but twice by TEA (Texas Education Agency) auditors.

“Once next week’s election is over, I’m going to put the same (door) bid back on the agenda,” said Elias.

Despite “school security” being a hot topic any day of the week, for whatever reason, the PSJA ISD Board of Trustees voted 3-3 twice to not accept the recommended bid (Request for Proposals).

The first nay vote came in May, and the second knockdown vote came last month.

The board is currently one trustee short following the death this past May of longtime trustee “Jesse” Vela.

The 3-3 May vote included Carlos Villegas, Diana Serna, and Cynthia Gutierrez in favor of accepting the door bid, while trustees “Jesse” and Jorge Zambrano voted nay along with Yolanda Castillo.

The 3-3 September vote saw Castillo vote in favor of accepting the new bid, but in a somewhat surprise move, Gutierrez sided with the Zambranos, which killed the deal.

To say that Superintendent Elias is more than a little frustrated would be an understatement.

“This is about student safety,” he said, “school safety, along with that of the staff and parents. Why this repair hasn’t been approved sooner, I have no idea. Any questions offered by any trustee was addressed in executive session.”

The two Zambrano brothers aren’t running for reelection, so presumably, no matter who wins next week’s election, PSJA ISD will end up with at least four trustees, or more, willing to approve the new bid to replace the exterior doors.

“It’s way past do,” said Elias. If the district were to re-bid the door job, Dr. Elias said he’s not sure many vendors would bother to submit a bid.

To put together a bid package in the $1-million range takes work, time, and effort. The vendors have to get prices for the doors from their respective suppliers, calculate the man hours to replace them, and then finalize a number.

Twice, vendors have done that, and twice the board shot down the bids. So, in Elias’s mind, what vendor would be willing to go to that much trouble if the board won’t vote to approve?

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

Old Chinese proverb. On top of that, committee members who work for the district had to review each bid, school staff must check references, past work done with either PSJA or another district, make sure they’re bonded, and then come up with a recommendation.

Twice they’ve done that, and twice their work has been for naught.

In terms of his own involvement in the process, Elias said he looks at nothing until the recommendation is ready to present to the board.

After the first bid knock-down in May, Dr. Elias said he was worried that the second bid would come in at a higher price, courtesy of inflation. Instead, to his surprise, the second bid is actually lower.

The lowest bid submitted for the May vote came in at $1.52 million to replace the 258 external doors.

The September low bid, from a different vendor, came in at $1.1 million.

Those on the PSJA committee who reviewed the two bids include the district’s assistant superintendent for technology, the operations administrator, the maintenance director, the assistant purchasing director, an auxiliary supervisor, and the district’s master locksmith.

“Once this election is over and the votes canvassed, I expect to put this bid on the agenda for the first board meeting in December,” said Elias. “And then we can tell TEA, yes, we are doing our job with regard to school safety.”