Harlingen CISD job is on the line

Just five months ago, the Harlingen CISD Board of Trustees gave its new supe, Dr. J.A. “Jay” Gonzalez, EdD, an annual raise of $10,000, bumping his annual salary to $310,000, and extended his three-year contract by another year.

Most people would look at that and think: the board must think Dr. Gonzalez is doing a good job.

Nay, a great job.

Gonzalez’s pay raise went into effect this month, but last month, courtesy of the new school budget, Harlingen teachers learned that they weren’t going to get a pay raise this year.

Uh-oh.

The new teachers being hired were going to come on board for more money, sure, but the teachers who had been with the district longer?

“We don’t have the money.”

Upset Teachers; McAllen ISD
Obviously, the superintendent’s recent pay increase came to mind, among the teaching ranks, and more than a few of them must have thought: Are you kidding me?

The smart superintendents will typically hold off on taking a pay raise offered by their respective boards until after the new year’s budget has been hammered home to make sure that they’re not going to be left hanging dry, leaving the board looking dumb.

As in, you (the school board) can give a salary increase to a guy already making $300K, but for the teachers pulling down $60,000, you’re telling us that the district doesn’t have the money?

Now it looks like that malfunction of common sense, if you will, is going to cost Gonzalez his job.

No reason to cry, because his pension already outstrips 90 percent of the Valley’s working population, but still, it’s obvious when he left McAllen and went to Harlingen that he didn’t want to quit working as a supe.

What “Jay” Gonzalez didn’t want to do, though, was stay at McAllen ISD and face the music this year that the current McAllen ISD superintendent, Dr. Rene Gutierrez, Ed, and the school board are facing with the district’s multi-million-dollar budget shortfall. All courtesy of Gonzalez’s tenure during the Covid years and the board majority that was there at the time (voted out in the last election) blowing through fed COVID money faster than a drunk groom at a Vegas wedding.

On this Tuesday’s Harlingen CISD special meeting (this column is being written early Tuesday), set for 5:30, the board item mentioning the former star player (Gonzalez) reads like a professional obit: “Consultation with Legal Counsel and consideration regarding employment and possible resignation of Superintendent and appointment of Interim Superintendent.”

“Consideration and possible action regarding employment of Superintendent, including possible acceptance of resignation agreement.”

On top of that, the district released a statement Sunday to local media: “While the District cannot discuss any of the specifics of this agenda item outside of the Board meeting, please know that there are serious issues that have led to the need for the agenda item as posted. No further information can be shared with regard to these matters due to privacy concerns and because this is an ongoing employment matter.”

Yeah, that’s because based on social media posts, there are a lot of Harlingen teachers outraged over the way they have been mistreated, as spelled out in the new budget.

“Thanks for working for the district for 10 years, but we can’t afford to give you a pay raise for the coming year despite record inflation. Now please get off of Facebook.”

I’m guessing that the Harlingen CISD board was left clueless in April (only a guess) as to just how bad the district’s financials were going to look when it came time to hammer out a new budget this summer.

Otherwise, they would not have given Dr. Gonzalez a pay raise and a year’s contract extension last April.

Even this May, there was a school board election. Two incumbents ran unopposed and won, Dr. Nolan Perez and Belinda Reininger, while the third trustee, Bobby Muniz, won by more than 800 votes against his lone opponent.

Meaning, the voters, and presumably the teachers who live within the Harlingen CISD district, had no clue as to what was coming in August when the news was made known about new budget constraints — We have no money to give teachers a raise, now can we please move on?

Apparently not. Compared to Harlingen CISD, McAllen ISD — despite its budget shortfalls — still managed to find a way to give their teachers a pay raise this school year.

After getting hammered with angry online posts from angry teachers (never a happy place to be), the board must have told “Jay,” ‘Hey, brother, someone has to fall on the sword, and it ain’t gonna be us.’

We’ll know by the time this paper comes out Wednesday what happened late Tuesday afternoon.

For updates, check back with anjournal.com.

Until then, hasta luego.

Update Wednesday morning:

Even though Dr. Gonzalez was not in attendance at Tuesday's special board meeting, the board voted to accept his resignation.