PSJA school district at a crossroads
PHARR — The lid that kept Pharr-San Juan-Alamo politics from boiling over simply blew off Tuesday.
The heat of the 22-count federal indictment against three school board members — Vangie Garcia-De Leon, Roy Rodriguez and Roy Navarro — and retiring schools Superintendent Arturo Guajardo and De Leon’s former husband, Ricardo De Leon, was felt long before.
Most of the indicted school officials, who were arrested Monday night and Tuesday morning by FBI agents, have been tied to past legal problems within the district.
“The thing is, I think the board members don’t mean to do some of this stuff,” said Marcelino Medina, an Alamo resident who sat on the PSJA school board for three years during the 1980s.
“They run (for office), and you need $40,000 to $50,000 (to campaign) for a position that doesn’t pay anything.
“They tell themselves, ‘Well, I’ll take this money from the contractors,’ and they don’t realize it is illegal.”
Board members not accused in Tuesday’s federal indictment were quick to jump to their colleagues’ defense.
“They are good people, as far as I know,” board member Pete Garcia said. “It’s a shame that they are being accused. I don’t know if they are guilty or not.”
Board president Ben Garza Jr. said district business would continue despite the latest developments.
“Although any time criminal charges are brought against any individual it is a very serious matter … I would nonetheless remind everyone that they are innocent until proven guilty or it is determined by a court of law that their actions constitute ‘official misconduct,’” he said in a prepared statement issued early Tuesday afternoon.
Garza, Garcia, Fernando Lopez and Reymundo Gonzalez barely make up the board’s quorum now, since the indicted trustees are temporarily barred from doing any district business.
The Texas Association of School Boards’ policy says school board members can be removed from office if they have a felony conviction, committed official misconduct, disregarded elected duties or are found to be intoxicated.
Since January 2005, the PSJA schools community has had to deal with a steady stream of FBI implications and other legal allegations against its board members and long-serving superintendent, who is set to retire June 30 after nearly 40 years with the district, including seven years as the district chief.
In January 2005, the FBI raided the district’s administration offices, along with the Pharr Housing Authority and the homes of the De Leons, Navarro, Rodriguez, Guajardo and then-trustee Guadalupe Jaime Santa Maria. At the time, district personnel said they were unsure what the federal agents were looking for as they loaded about 100 moving crates into a van at the district office.
Then in July 2005, Santa Maria was federally indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit extortion, mail fraud and bribery in connection with a federal government program. Santa Maria pleaded guilty in January 2006 to one count of conspiracy to violate the law. All other charges were dropped against him. He gave up his seat on the school board that same month.
Problems continued in March of this year when Rodriguez was arrested and charged in a 15-count federal indictment with money laundering, mail fraud, extortion and bribery. That case has yet to go to trial.
On a separate note for Garcia-De Leon, she was stopped about 7 a.m. Jan. 22, 2006, near the intersection of Farm-to-Market Road 2812 and U.S. Expressway 281. A spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety said at the time she refused to take a Breathalyzer test and failed a field sobriety test. Garcia-De Leon kept her seat despite being arrested for driving while intoxicated. That case is still pending.
Today, only one thing about the district’s future appears certain: it will get a new leader in July.
Hidalgo schools Superintendent Daniel P. King is slated to leave his current post, which he has held for eight years, to take over the scandal-plagued PSJA district.
On Tuesday, King said he was shocked by the indictments and that the only interactions he has had with Guajardo and the board were through meetings and his job interview.
“I know that I’ll be committed to make sure that everything is done correctly, ethically, legally, and that everything is in the best interest of everyone here,” said King, whose professional record is lauded across the state.
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Monitor reporters Kyle Arnold and Andres R. Martinez contributed to this report.
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Daniel Perry covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4454.
