BISD to consider changing law firms

Brownsville Independent School District trustees will consider looking for a new general counsel when they meet at 5:30 p.m. today in the boardroom of BISD headquarters at 1900 Price Rd.

Trustee Catalina Presas-Garcia placed three related items on the meeting's agenda, calling for trustees to discuss and consider:

• Giving 30 days notice to the law firm Walsh, Anderson, Brown, Aldrige & Gallegos, P.C. to end its contract for legal services with BISD.
• Issuing a request for proposals from law firms seeking to become BISD's general counsel.
• Creating a position of in-house attorney.

"My main concern is that we are spending so much money on law firms," Presas-Garcia said, adding that her proposal to cut ties with Walsh Anderson stems from the firm's lawyers being present at BISD meetings where she thinks they're not necessarily needed.

"Other districts don't use their legal counsel for budget meetings," Presas-Garcia said. "I have concerns that this law firm is sitting in on every meeting - and charging us their hourly rate for their services."

She said trustees from other districts as big or bigger than BISD have told her that their legal bills are far less than BISD's. Presas-Garcia recently returned from the annual convention of the National School Board Association in San Diego.

Walsh Anderson has been BISD's general counsel since September 2007. Before that, Mike Saldaña had served as general counsel since about September 2001. Walsh Anderson became general counsel after Saldaña joined the firm and he continued to represent the district after his association with the firm, district spokeswoman Drue Brown said.

Presas-Garcia said Margarita Pizana-Flores, the district's internal auditor, has long recommended hiring an in-house attorney for day-to-day legal matters.

Tuesday's meeting also was to have included a final report from the Harlingen law firm of Denton, Navarro, Roche & Bernal on its investigation of Superintendent Hector Gonzales and BISD's Special Services Department. The agenda item on the report was pulled at the last minute, Presas-Garcia said.

Gonzales has been on administrative leave with pay since the board's 4-3 majority launched the investigation on Jan. 16.

"We're forgetting that the education of our children is foremost," Presas-Garcia said of the investigation. "We're losing all focus. ... We are spending taxpayer money that we shouldn't be sending and I'm tired of that. We should be investing in educational best practices and not in what's not working (the investigation.)" she said.

glong@brownsvilleherald.com