PSJA Trustee: Why is PSJA changing principals so close to this election?
PHARR — PSJA ISD Board Trustee Carlos Villegas has sounded mad before, but Tuesday afternoon, he sounded like a guy badly in need of lower blood-pressure meds.
“How can anyone justify moving PSJA’s top-rated principal this close to an election?”
Word on PSJA streets Tuesday, which was the first day back for the district’s administrative staff, was that Alejandro Elias, long-tenured principal at the district’s Early College High School (PSJA High Bears), was called to central office that very morning, without explanation. Then an assistant principal was also called there. Before long, school staff was hearing the surprising news: Dr. Elias was getting moved to central office (administration), where his new title would be Director of Student Enrollment.
“Considering that PSJA ISD has lost more than 2,000 students this past year,” said Villegas, “there is no doubt that the district has failed with regard to enrollment and student retention, but you sure don’t try to fix that problem by moving one of PSJA’s top-rated principals away from the very high-school campus that is one of the district’s best-performing jewels, so to speak,”
In fact, the PSJA Early College High is currently rated as the state’s “Most resilient high school.” In the state. Also, it’s rated as the state’s “Most spirited high school.”
During a pandemic? High marks indeed, say Elias’s supporters, who have already started an online petition to retain him at the high school. To add your name, simply go to change. org and search for “Return PSJA Dr. Elias petition.”
Apparently, to add fuel to the fire, Elias was not allowed to return to his office to collect his personal and professional property, nor was he allowed to speak to school staff.”
Said one school source: “People are upset. Our phones are ringing off the hook.”
Villegas thinks there are reasons behind Elias’s sudden and unexpected removal.
“There’s an election coming up, so the first thing people are going to ask is, who’s been promised the job? This move makes no sense.”
Two years ago, on his own personal time, away from campus, Elias campaigned for the Victor Perez slate opposing the Zambrano slate, comprised also of Jesse Vela and Cynthia Gutierrez. Some months after the election, Gutierrez joined Villegas after she discovered, as she puts it, that she was supposed to play the part of the political pawn, which she says she refused to do.
Given that political stance and the upcoming election, is there little doubt that someone is going to claim political retaliation with regard to the sudden move of Elias from the PSJA High School campus?
Three places are up for the local Nov. 8 election — 1, 2, and 3.
So far, Carlos Villegas has announced that he will run for reelection, along with two slate mates — Diana Serna and Yolanda Castillo. They haven’t yet filed, so the names tied to the places aren’t yet fixed in place, but both wom en are well-known in PSJA as long-time educators.
Currently, and for the past year or more, Villegas has sided with fellow trustee Cynthia Gutierrez, making the board majority 5-2. In a perfect world, there should be no majority, most education professionals profess. Each board trustee should read through their board packet before each school board meeting and vote their conscience, based on the set of facts presented before them. Vote on what’s best for the district, taxpayers, parents, and students. Not on what’s best for the vendor looking for a job listed the board agenda.
Granted, said Villegas, proof of favoritism is hard to come by, where things aren’t done the proper way, but when, for example, the school district awards a high-dollar contract to a vendor based out of Laredo, when so many local businesses could have bid for the same work, people are going to start asking questions.
“That’s one of the problems,” said Villegas. “Instead of voting on many important matters, they’re simply stuck in the consent agenda, where discussion on any one item (e.g., bid) is made that much more difficult.”
The other side, the board majority — trustees Jesse Vela, Jesse Zambrano, Jorge Zambrano, Jorge Palacios and Board President Rick Pedraza — might disagree, but to date, they have refused comment. Jesse Zambrano will talk, as long as it’s off the record, which for the sake of news reporting makes the time not worthwhile and fails to paint a balanced story, if indeed there is one.
Such as: with the high-stakes PSJA school board election only 15 weeks away, why would the district choose now (July 26) to fine tune a high school by replacing the principal, who by all accounts, based on state ratings, has been doing a stellar job for many years?
“That’s the question I’m asking,” said Villegas. “Not only me, but a lot of people.”
Other Issues of Concern
Distract him from this recent news — Dr. Elias getting moved in the seeming wink of an eye — and Villegas has some other issues he’d like to make clear moving into this school board race:
“My sole intention for serving on the board is to do what's best for 30,000 plus students. And to make sure that our staff gets a fair shake, and they're treated professionally and courteously. That's all. I don’t pretend to know everything, but I know enough to ask questions. I'm transparent. I think I'm more transparent than some of the other board members, with the exception of Cynthia (Gutierrez). I think she's very transparent too. There are no hidden agendas with me. And the reason I chose to run with two women, is like I said before, I don't know everything, I hope to learn from them because they bring a bunch of educational experience and expertise to the forefront.”
With the issue of transparency, can Villegas offer an example of non-transparency currently on-site at the district vs. how the district might turn transparent if the current board majority wasn’t running the show, so to speak?
“When Ms. Gutierrez or I have a question regarding where PSJA is exactly with regard to our staffing, why is it hard to impossible to get a timely answer?
“When we have a question that says, where are we exactly with our funding? Why can’t we get answers? And we’re board members. Imagine a public citizen trying to get information from the district.”
Wait. There’s more.
“How are we looking toward the next year, 2023, or maybe beyond? You would think that as board members we would have access to that information and discuss it as a board. Where are we going to be in two years, with regard to competitive hiring and fair hiring? Those are a few areas where I would like the district to be more transparent. It just seems that, why is there is always a need to put stuff in as consent agenda items?”
A consent agenda is basically a hodge-podge mix into which a district may place multiple items to save time. The big-items, though, are usually placed on the agenda as a line item to offer up more time for discussion. According to both Villegas and Gutierrez, that isn’t being done.
“They want to go ahead and say, ‘Hey, all those in favor of these consent agenda items, say, yay. Now, let's move on down to another business.’ No, that’s not the way to discuss and conduct school business. Let's discuss all these things. The staff wants to know. The community wants to know.”
Villegas said he is sorry, but he has to end the conversation.
“I’m waiting for a petition now being written to keep Dr. Elias on as principal at PSJA Early College High School. Right now, that’s my number-one concern, and the concern of many others I have spoken to. I’ve been around politics for a long time, but this one really smells. We’re going to move a top-rated principal from one of the top-rated high schools ranked high across multiple state regions and stick him in some closet at central office to count numbers? Really?”