BISD hands out recognition

Tuesday was recognition night at the Brownsville Independent School District.

On an agenda dominated by giving credit where credit is due, the BISD board of trustees:

— Received recognition from students, teachers and administrators around the district for the important work they do as members of the board. The accolades were part of School Board Recognition Month.

— Recognized 13 elementaries and five middle schools for making the 2007 Texas Monthly Best Public Schools list.

— Recognized the 11th grade and 12th grade chess teams at Hanna High School for placing second and first respectively at the 2007 National Scholastic Championship Chess Tournament held Dec. 7-9 in Houston.

—Recognized as valid the grievance of two school bus drivers who sought to have bus driving they did from 1996 to 2000 recognized as bus driving when they were officially classified as school bus monitors.

The grievance hearing was heard in open session at the request of the two bus drivers, Perla Cardenas and Nora Aguilera. They contended that while they were officially employed as monitors from 1996-2000, they actually served as drivers at the request of their supervisor.

They have officially been bus drivers since 2000 and did not seek any additional money for driving they did during the four years in question.

They only sought recognition of the driving time for purposes of a seniority list used to assign routes, their representative Thomas Puntureri, executive director of the Association of Brownsville Educators, said.

Superintendent Hector Gonzales said that during those years it was common for bus monitors and even mechanics and administrators to drive buses — “whatever it took to get the kids to school.”

He said it would be difficult to get records to prove the two drivers’ point since they were officially classified as monitors, a point disputed by neither side.

The board voted 5-2 to grant the grievance.

The meeting started with a district-wide show of affection for the school board, with school representatives from each of BISD’s five clusters presenting board members with gifts and tokens of their appreciation in recognition of School Board Appreciation Month.

The board then recognized the schools on the Texas Monthly Best Schools list. They include Lucio, Oliveira, Perkins, Stell and Vela middle schools and the following elementaries: Sharp, Benavides, Gallegos, Gonzalez, Longoria, Martin, Morningside, Paredes, Putegnat, Resaca, Russell, Villa Nueva and Yturria.

The chess teams at Hanna included Javier Martinez Jr., Mauro L. Delgado and Armando Romo on the 12th grade team that placed first in the National Scholastic Championship Chess Tournament. The 11th grade team of Christopher David Peña, Christian R. Saco and Gabriel Soto placed second.