Gonzales fights suspension

The dispute between the voting majority of the BISD Board of Trustees and Superintendent Hector Gonzales is expected to come to a head this morning in the state's 107th District Court.

In a hearing before District Judge Benjamin Euresti, Gonzales is scheduled to seek reinstatement as superintendent of the Brownsville Independent School District. In the same hearing, Special Services Administrator Art Rendon is on the docket to seek an injunction to stop board members from what he says is interfering with his employment and violating the Texas Open Meetings Act.

The board's majority placed Gonzales on administrative leave with pay on Jan. 16 and ordered a 60-day investigation of his administration and the Special Services Department. Last week, the board extended the suspension "until further action."

On Feb. 10, Brownsville attorney Ruben Peña filed a $10 million lawsuit on Gonzales' behalf against the board's four majority members for breach of contract and defamation of character. Peña filed the action as a cross claim to Rendon's lawsuit against the voting majority of board President Rolando Aguilar, Vice President Ruben Cortez Jr., Secretary Joe Colunga and Assistant Secretary Rick Zayas.

The lawsuit seeks actual and compensatory damages from the four trustees but not BISD, although the trustees are named as defendants individually and in their official capacity. Gonzales and Mike Saldaña, the district's counsel, also are named as defendants.

Another purpose of the hearing is to show cause that Euresti's court has jurisdiction in the case.

"Our main thrust will be to get him (Gonzales) reinstated on the basis that the Board of Trustees had no authority to place him on administrative leave unless they had some good cause to do so," Peña said. "We have subpoenaed all of the school board members and we'll be loaded for bear."

Brownsville attorneys Star Jones and Ben Neece filed Rendon's lawsuit on Jan. 6. It alleges several civil violations in regard to how Aguilar, Cortez, Colunga and Zayas handled an agenda item at the Dec. 2 board meeting concerning disbursements of federal, state and local funds for special education. The lawsuit cites numerous alleged violations of the Open Meetings Act, including discussing Rendon's ouster in executive session without posting the matter on the meeting's agenda.

Jones said Rendon's hope in filing the lawsuit is to "get the board to follow its own procedures" and to stop violating the Texas Open Meetings Act.

"We need a judge to step in and sanction these members," she said.

Peña said he filed Gonzales' lawsuit as a cross-claim to Rendon's because the "core set of facts" in the two cases is nearly identical.