By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
Managing Editor
editor@sbnewspaper.com
Antonio G. Limon
At a special school board meeting set for Memorial Day, San Benito CISD Superintendent of Schools Antonio G. Limón expects to be reprimanded and his powers reduced while the attorney representing the district may find his services no longer needed.
Among other items, the Board of Trustees will meet Monday, May 28, at 7 p.m. inside the John F. Barron Administration Building, located at 240 N. Crockett St., to discuss whatever progress has been made at Miller Jordan Middle School and Veterans Memorial Academy (VMA), the two campuses that were rated academically unacceptable by the Texas Education Agency last year.
Also up for discussion or possible action is a request for a formal financial audit, a 30-day termination notice of the legal services provided by Gus Acevedo including a request for qualifications for school legal services, three policy revisions and two closed session items regarding maintenance personnel and a written reprimand of the superintendent “to be placed in superintendent’s file.”
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18 comments
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Have you all seen the Sept 15th Board meeting? For some reason you can not hear Mr. Oscar Medrano’s voice clearly as he addresses concern that the Board President is over stepping her boundaries. You may have to jump ahead but it is clear that she was told that she was wrong by Board President she replaced! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5O6pRcN_1U
Will someone PLEASE forward the following information to our board president and the rest of her gang?! I think they forgot to read this…
http://board.sbcisd.net/2011/07/code-of-ethics/
To Unanswered Questions:
Are you kidding? Truly care about education? The two new board members voted on agenda items on Monday that they should have known NOTHING about, but somehow they did.
Sounds like some board members are talking about district business without a meeting being called. That’s a No No!!
Wow!! I think they need to reprimand Linda Limon not Antonio Limon since she is the one who makes the decision at this school district and is the actual superintendent. I have heard numerous horror stories on “sudden changes” or “reassignments” that occur due to her encounters with individuals that work for the district. This new princess in charge just might be what this district needs.
CHANGE is just what this city needs; change in city personnel, change in district leadership, change in hiring practices and recruitment. The nepotism, compadre, and bartering system for jobs in San Benito CISD is not beneficial in providing the education our students need. The minimal results in education are evident to the practices that are now being followed. The only way that things will begin to happen is by changing all the common players and replacing them with those who truly care about education and not clout.
Good Luck to the new board members!!!!
Ok we are here at today’s Huge Game and it appears with all the fans turning out to see there favorite teams and so much rideing on todays game there are certaniy going to be alot of try outs for nexts election seats! What do you think Sparky? Makes you just want do throw your name in theh hat does’nt it?
The news is out… the president of the board wanted to reprimand Supt. Limon because he didn’t stop her from sending that insurance letter stopping all insurances for the district and warn her that it was illegal. HELLO? How could he if he didn’t know she was doing this?
And why didn’t she know it was illegal? She has a supt. certificate herself, she is a principal, she has been on the board for 3 years. Why didn’t she know it was illegal? Now she wants to shift the blame to someone else.
Didn’t she realize that all these companies have CONTRACTS and that we could get sued for breaking them.
What else does Princess President want to blame Mr. Limon for?
Yes Richard, you are right. When the previous supt. Joe D. Gonzalez used this same attorney, he was racking up legal bills left and right because of all the litigation Joe D. was incurring for the district. So then the board put Mr. Acevedo on retainer to save the district money. I wish one of the old board members would produce and release that information, how much was being spent back then, just to put things into perspective. Its funny that without conducting any business with the attorney, 2 new members don’t want him. On what are they basing their decision? Did they even try to work with him? No. This is not a positive, forward looking board.
Though $10,000 dollars a month may sound too much for an attorney, people need to understand the extent amount of work a school attorney does. He has to attend meetings, advise on school board law, meet with the superintendent, evaluate potentional law suits, attend legal meetings, answer telephone calls by school board members and superintendent, advice on pending litigation, represent the district at court hearings etc..etc. Most districts keep their attorneys on a retainer to allow this flexibility. Otherwise, they would have to pay between $200-$400 an hour. If you do the math, attorney fees could get very costly. It will be interesting to see what this new board will pay the for legal counsel once he or she is hired. I seriously doubt they will find a good attorney to take a district the size of San Benito for $5,000 dollars. I wonder how much other districts pay? Just saying…
Richard (Harlingen, TX)
Anyone wanting to register a complaint about suspected violations of the Open Meetings Act, can do so with the Office of Attorney General at (877) 673-6839. Leave a message and they will return your call.
Mark, thanks for the info and help.
For years under former supt. Joe D. Gonzales, the school district paid much more for legal services. These are the same people who were OK with it then, but now they object. This is the same attorney who served the board then under Joe D. Gonzales and who has taken several pay cuts since. But now, it appears, that the attorney-children of a former mayor of San Benito are in line to get that position while their father inherits the high school principalship all in payment for his delivery of votes from El Jardin for Huerta, Cruz & Rodriguez.
Yes, I understand that Monday, they posted an agenda and called a meeting for Thursday– to take action on something that they were going to discuss at Monday’s meeting, which had not been held yet. I think that proves they are having illegal meetings.
At the Monday meeting some very rude people were heckling Oscar Medrano. These people are very disrespectful and have no idea how to conduct themselves at meetings where parliamentary procedure and Roberts Rules of Order are the guide. Unfortunately, the president is just as rude as the hecklers for not stopping them or having them removed from the room. If she can’t control meetings, she should step down as president. She’s been on the board for three years, didn’t she learn anything about procedure?
Thank you Mark Cassidy!!! Yes indeed all their actions indicate illegal meetings, prearranged decisions and inexperienced and uneducated trustees.
The school board has become a joke.
Now they want to pay an interim attorney while they are still paying for the actual attorney….more money wasted. Didn’t June Aguilera say that they wanted a new attorney to save money? This isn’t saving money.
And how did they post a meeting for Thursday to advertise for an interim WHEN THEY HADN’T EVEN HAD THE MONDAY MEETING TO MAKE THIS DECISION?? Mark Cassidy is right…. illegal, backroom meetings held before the real meeting. How illegal. And these are the TRUSTees?? Shame on San Benito for allowing these injustices to occur to our town.
TEA! TEA! TEA! TEA! TEA! I am with Mely!
THIS IS A MESSAGE TO MR. LIMON!!! ….. if you really care about students and value your job… NO TE DEJES!!!!! no dejes que Esas viejas sin experiencia !! te ganen! haha I am a woman and i am advising you that! DO YOUR JOB… start with fixing the problems at VMA and Miller Jordan you need ppl (administrators and teachers) who will do their job —– teach and lead those students who want to learn. IF you decide to leave on your own I sure do hope that a person with a shady or crimimal past or some “THICKhead” DOES NOT TAKE YOUR PLACE.. IF THAT HAPPENS THEN SAN BENITO CISD WILL REALLY BE SCREWED! Sorry for the typos… I am mad!!!!!!
PLEASE T. E. A. our children need you, GET INVOLVED AND FIX THE MESS THAT OUR TOWN HAS THROWN UPON ITSELF BEFORE THE 2012-13 SCHOOL YEAR BEGINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This agenda stinks of an illegal meeting! First, to put on it a discussion and action of a written reprimand of the superintendent “to be placed in superintendent’s file,” shows discussion and action by some trustees outside an open meeting. To place on an agenda a discussion of any employee is legitimate. But to post what action is to be taken when there has been no motion to take action, if any, reveals a liklihood that an agreement among some of the trustees has already been reached. If this does come to pass in mere minutes, those motioning and voting in favor will be the culprits. They will be confirming the obvious.
Secondly, the same can be said for legal services. How can there be an agenda item of “a 30-day termination notice of the legal services,” if there has been no discussion on the record to terminate the current attorney? How can this action be posted when no trustee has made such a motion on the record in an open meeting? Again, if this comes to pass this evening, it will reek of an illlegal meeting of some trustees. I’ll be willing to wager that it will be the very same trustees lining up against Limon.
Clearly this board president, Rodriguez, is a loose canon without the knowledge or experience to guide this board or this school district. The letter she wrote last week cancelling the insurance is a prime example. Add to her inexperience those elected in the past year with even less experience and much less education, and this school district and its children are in a world of trouble.
I knew it from the beginning…..when the inexperienced ppl got elected i said if they win i suspected it was rigged for an agenda They want to get rid of Mr Limon!!!! So friggin obvious to those that pay attention!!!!! Dont blame me!!! I didnt vote for them …… get rid of them all startin with that woman president___if she wants to run a district she should of applied with the district shes employed at! Isn’t it Los Fresnos? Sorry I maybe wrong. For the former members……………..bet ur havin a good laugh see they are already screwing up and the 2012-2013 school year has not yet begun!!!!!!! How sad!!!!!!! If my children’s academic status declines because of their decisions they willl see hell in the boardroom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is from a san benito parent.
Didn’t these new board members just say a day before that they would work with Limon and that they wouldn’t fire or move anybody? Hello!!! And now they are reprimanding him, taking away his duties and firing the attorney! OMG This is BS!!! These people are liars!! And why on earth is Yliana sending e-mails at 1:53 a.m.?? How inconsiderate of her and unprofessional!! Gees! Oh one more little message for Mrs. Rodriguez: YOU ARE NOT THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SAN BENITO CISD! ….AND YOU WILL NEVER BE!!! GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK HEAD MISS NO COMMENT!!
Is it true that the board president has a relative working for the district? Is this why there is a personnel issue with the maintenance dept? Please investigate. Conflict of interest could result if she takes action to advance her relative to a position for which he is not qualified. Also has there been a background check to see if there are no felony convictions? Worth investigating. Could be worse than the Murillo incident for a far worse circumstance.