Dr. Abelardo Saavedra, conservator of the South San Antonio Independent School District, has recommended that the Texas Education Agency commissioner appoint managers to the school district.
Saavedra was appointed to the role of conservator in September 2023 in an attempt to avoid the TEA appointing a board of managers. Alongside the board president and the superintendent, he created four different exit criteria to be accomplished by the school board during the year.
“These exit criteria are meant to address deficiencies found in the Special Investigation Final Report and to support trustees in rectifying longstanding governance issues,” explained Saavedra in the letter to the TEA.
Though members of the school board had a year to fix problems and achieve the standards necessary to maintain their status as an ISD according to law, they have fallen quite short, according to Saavedra.
Saavedra further explained that he had offered to assist the members to help them reach the required standards, but there has not been much progress.
Standards that the school boards have not met include: completing required board training, establishing communication between the superintendent and the people of the school district, and attending district board meetings regularly.
”The current board does not publicly engage with its constituents, and at this point, it does not publicly engage with the community,” Saavedra wrote.
“It would be hard-pressed to determine what the community wants and needs. This lack of communication between the board and the community means that the district will be less effective and efficient in improving student success.”
He finished the letter by strongly urging that the TEA appoint a board of managers.
If a board of managers is appointed, South San Antonio ISD would be the fifth out of Texas’ 12,000 school districts to have a board of managers appointed by the TEA.
The final decision is up to TEA Commissioner Mike Morath.
The commissioner won’t reach a decision until after he meets with the South San Antonio ISD school board members in mid-January, according to local San Antonio news outlet KSAT.
