Socorro ISD board members accuse fellow members, superintendent of violating Texas law - KFOX El Paso
EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — There are accusations out of the Socorro Independent School District suggesting some board members, along with Superintendent Dr. Nate Carman, could have had a walking quorum and violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.
The issue surfaced at Tuesday night’s board meeting when District 4 Trustee Paul Guerra, along with District 2 Trustee Cynthia Najera and District At-Large Trustee Michael Najera, accused Superintendent Carman, Board President David Morales, Vice President Ricardo Castellano, Secretary Eduardo Mena, and District 5 Trustee Pablo Barrera of meeting separately to talk about hiring a new law firm to represent the district.
The contract for the current law firm doesn’t expire until September, which is something Guerra found to be suspicious.
“We have four board members calling on the superintendent and asking to talk about legal counsel, and we have the executive team bringing this up, and then we want to move this early before September? This doesn’t sound good,” said Guerra.
The item was passed at the end of the meeting in a four (Morales, Castellano, Mena, Barrera) to three (Guerra, C. Najera, M.Najera) vote, but it was earlier in the discussion that Cynthia Najera realized what those private conversations could imply.
“If that is taking place, members of this board have violated the Texas Open Meetings Act. That is a walking quorum,” said Najera.
KFOX14 reached out to SISD for comment and asked to speak with the superintendent, but was sent this statement instead which said:
“We are unaware of any facts that would establish a walking quorum.”
KFOX14 Reporter Lianna Golden also asked each board member for an interview.
Golden never heard back from any of them.
Golden also reached out to the Texas Education Agency to find out what the protocol would be to investigate this kind of situation.
Count on KFOX14 to bring you the response when we have it.
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source: https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/sisd-board-of-trustees-members-accusing-fellow-members-superintendent-of-a-walking-quorum-teaxs-law-open-meentings-act
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