BISD board to allow flexibility on lawsuit against HealthSmart
The Brownsville Independent School District Board of Trustees has voted to authorize its attorneys to amend the district’s lawsuit against HealthSmart Benefit Solutions Inc. if necessary and to take related action as discussed in executive session.
The vote Tuesday night was 4-3, with board President Catalina Presas-Garcia and Trustees Enrique Escobedo, Christina Saavedra and Luci Longoria voting in favor and Trustees Joe Colunga, Rolando Aguilar and Minerva Peña voting against.
BISD in August 2010 filed a lawsuit against HealthSmart seeking to recover monetary damages stemming from $14.5 million in allegedly improper charges during the two years HealthSmart administered BISD’s self-funded employee health plan. The lawsuit alleges fraud, breach of contract, civil conspiracy and gross negligence by HealthSmart against the district.
The Houston law firm of Thompson & Horton LLP has represented the BISD board since shortly after the November 2010 election when the current board majority was elected. Arturo Michel is the local representative.
BISD filed the HealthSmart lawsuit a little more than two months before the election, when the San Antonio law firm of Walsh, Anderson, Brown, Aldridge & Gallegos, P.C. was the district’s law firm and Mike Saldaña was the local representative.
On Wednesday Michel pointed out that because the matter is a plaintiff’s lawsuit, BISD must pay the cost of prosecuting the case. Because claims of fraud and conspiracy constitute most of the case, Michel said he asked the board for the flexibility to pursue only the claims where BISD is most likely to prevail.
“We need to focus on the claims we should be focusing on and not waste time and money on claims where it doesn’t look like we will recover (damages),” Michel said.
He also said “it’s important that we move quickly because there is movement by the other side” to get claims dismissed and other matters.
Escobedo said Thompson & Horton had done its research on the lawsuit and came to the board seeking guidance. He noted that the lawsuit is in progress and said the matter ought to be settled in court. The case was filed in 107th state District Court.
Presas-Garcia said the HealthSmart lawsuit is just one of a number of matters left by the previous board of trustees for the current board to clean up.
In a related matter, trustees voted to hire Leandra C. Ortiz as the district’s in-house staff attorney. Additional details on her background were not immediately available
In other action, trustees received an update from Danny Defenbaugh of the Dallas forensic auditing firm Defenbaugh & Associates concerning the forensic audit his firm is conducting of BISD’s bonded debt and E-Rate expenditures during the last three years.
Defenbaugh revealed that two of three sources who anonymously contacted his firm concerning its investigation eventually revealed their identity and were interviewed. Defenbaugh said he has gone to the FBI and Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos with criminal information gleaned during his investigation of BISD financial records.
BISD is paying Defenbaugh $250,000 for a forensic audit of the district’s bonded debt and E-Rate expenditures during the 2008-2009, 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years. The firm started work in early September. Trustee Joe Colunga placed the audit update on Tuesday night’s agenda.
The audit concerns:
>> School construction financed by a $136 million bond issue in 2006, as well as about $40 million in recent projects paid for through federal stimulus funds and qualified school construction bonds.
>> BISD’s participation in the federal government’s E-Rate program to finance construction of computer networks and other information technology applications across the district.
In another matter, Sylvia Atkinson, the assistant superintendent for human resources, and Maricela Zarate, the administrator for certified personnel, reported that BISD has hired a total of 30 new teachers this fall compared to 197 in fall 2010.
Of this year’s new hires, 18, or 60 percent, are certified teachers, while 12 or 40 percent were certified through an alternative certification program, or ACP. Of last year’s new hires, 111, or 56 percent, had regular certification, while 86, or 44 percent were certified through ACP.
Zarate said on-site selection committees at each school choose the new teachers. It is then her department’s job to verify their credentials and qualifications. In the eyes of the Texas Education Agency’s Educator Certification Program, teachers certified through regular or alternative certification are equal, she said.
glong@brownsvilleherald.com
