SAN ANTONIO – Update (8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12): South San Antonio Independent School District said 48 people have applied to become a board manager for the district. Tuesday was the deadline to apply.
The TEA said of those 48 people, 19 reside in the district. The TEA released the following data on the applicants:
- Current SSAISD parents: 9
- Former SSAISD parents: 7
- Attended SSAISD: 24
- Graduated from SSAISD: 21
- Former SSAISD employees: 13
- Current SSAISD employees: 2
- Former superintendents: 2
The TEA commissioner will not make a final decision on replacing the SSAISD elected trustees until after he meets with them in mid-January.
Original (11:04 p.m. Monday, Dec. 9): The Texas Education Agency is considering whether to replace the South San ISD’s board of trustees with appointed board managers.
“What happens to the old board? Do they have anything, any repercussions?” asked a woman attending the TEA and South San ISD meeting.
Those who live in the South San ISD area and employees of the district attended a community meeting regarding the possibility of replacing the district’s current board with TEA-appointed members.
Out of more than 12,000 school districts in Texas, only four of them currently have an appointed board of managers. South San ISD could soon be the fifth.
“The appointment of a board like this only occurs in the most extreme circumstances,” said Steve Lecholop, the Deputy Commissioner for Governance with the TEA.
Lecholop explained that a conservator was assigned to monitor the South San ISD and recommended that the elected trustees be replaced.
“The board micromanaged in a way that was not by the (education code). There were some other behaviors by trustees that also violated the (education code),” said Lecholop.
The TEA commissioner will ultimately decide if appointing a board of managers is the right decision. However, the agency is already looking to see if there is sufficient interest from the community to fill those potential roles.
As for the South San ISD Superintendent, Henry Yzaguirre, he believes the district is already making some of the needed changes.
“For the record, our academics have improved over the last year or so, so yeah, we don’t know what’s going to happen here in the next few months. Whatever the agency does decide to do, we’re going to assist with whatever needs to happen,” said Yzaguirre.
The deadline to apply for a board manager position is by the end of the day on Wednesday, Dec. 11.
If you would like more information on the position, the TEA is holding a community meeting on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the South San Antonio High School Auditorium.
The TEA commissioner will not make a final decision on replacing the South San ISD’s elected trustees until after he meets with them in mid-January.
