Embattled Esd#6 Board Members Took Over the Southside Isd School Board

Mendelsohn's team..steam rolling the district

Mendelsohn got even.

Just when you thought the ESD#6 board was too busy trying to get a handle on the infractions they created; it reared its head once again. The ESD#6 board members, by shutting down the Sandy Oaks VFD and AtaBexar VFD's; the best equipped departments to handle situations of fire safety at the Southside school district, were taken to task for putting at unnecessary risk the lives of approximately 5200 students, staff and community members; who work at this rural district. Forcing the Southside ISD school board to file a lawsuit against the ESD#6.

The Sandy Oaks VFD provided a ladder truck for hard to reach two story buildings, which Ms. Mendelsohn and the ESD#6 board cut funding for and refused to make payments on until ordered by the courts. Eventually, due to Ms. Mendelsohn, Mr. Brewer and Mr. Chavez's actions, the Sandy Oaks VFD was forced to sell the truck, leaving the district without the proper vehicle to fight fires in the school districts two story building campus' or chemical plants in the southeast Bexar county area.

Clarity

For those that follow my hubs, it is important to clarify that this hub is not about the Southside ISD School Board, but a continuation of the history and activities of the members of Ms. Mendelsohn's "inner circle" that fought for control of power in the Southeast Bexar County Community.

Not knowing whom Abecedarian might be, ESD#6 members in Southeast Bexar County and "inner circle" members have attempted to attach these hub pages to several community members, some who work for the district, former Southside board members, Mr. Rick Quebe, Ms. Salazar and Mr. Knapp.

Rest assured that my interest in the atrocities perpetrated by the ESD#6 and it's members began long ago and have continued due to the fact that to date, they continue to deny the fire protection and safety that the tax payers of the Southeast Bexar County community pay for.

Just as expected.

It has been a tough future, with economic cuts that are affecting many school districts throughout the country. From the expansion of the district and the programs they offer, the school board had done a tremendous job, however, many individuals were affected by cuts that the state itself had implemented and pushed on to school boards throughout the state; these issues hitting close to home for many. A difficult future was to lie ahead involving education, especially when the community members did not rally around their elected officials that had worked hard for them in the past or to support them in the decisions thrust upon them.

As the former board as a whole worked diligently together for the betterment of the district, it's students and it's staff it quickly became sobering clear that the newly elected "team" of the board were going to spend, spend, spend as they did on the ESD#6 board. And spend they did.

Norberto "Robert" Chavez

The Vice- President, Mr. Norberto Chavez, as an ESD#6 board member failed to attend anymore meetings for the ESD#6 once the funding was cut to the departments and the community became involved. Mr. Chavez like Ms. Mendelsohn, suffered from the inability to pay his taxes, which support the district and yet he felt qualified to tell those hard working taxpayers how they should spend theirs. Mr. Chavez also ran for the school board in 2009, acquiring 261 votes, according to the elections website at www.bexar.org.

While still a sitting member of the ESD#6 board, Mr. Chavez along with the board voted to pay the volunteers, but did not produce the promised funds for the VFD's departments. Yet, they spent monies on the development of the "new" ESD#6 Fire and Rescue department that the ESD#6 had been working on creating.

Mr. Chavez continued to show the community of Southeast Bexar County just how unqualified he was to handle the financial dealings of the district. In less than five months on the board the new "team" of Ms. Mendelsohn's to include Mr. Chavez spent over approx. $6 million dollars of community taxpaying citizens hard earned money.

During his first term...

Mr. Brewer (Former: Southside ISD Member):

Minutes from Jan 19, 2005- School Board Meeting: Consider and Take possible action concerning the proposed disciplining of Board Member Loren Brewer through a motion of censure. Mr. Brewer requested deliberations be held in open session:

Mr. Brewer and all board members have received training that identified and explained proper role of Board members.......Mr. Brewer on a number of occasions has had conversations with persons either involved in the District's grievance process or wanting to raise complaints outside the process, conversations that went beyond directing those persons to the appropriate grievance policies. Mr. Brewer has made visits to District campuses during working hours without making arrangements with the campus administrators prior to going to the campuses and has gone outside the chain of command and required employees to respond to his questioning during working hours, conducting himself as noted above, Mr. Brewer failed to act in accordance with the standards expected of members of the Board of Trustees......He had eroded staff morale and has raised governance issues..

April 28, 2005-- The censure didn't take. Mr. Brewer went to Southside Middle School campus, asking teacher questions about their positions and duties.

Mr. Brewer's voting record:

April 2005- Mr. Brewer voted against increasing the salaries of underpaid employees.

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Jan 2004- Mr. Brewer voted against considering the donation for the land at Mission DeLago- now Gallardo Elementary. October 2004- voted against contractor for Gallardo Elementary. Opposed the building of Gallardo Elementary.

2004- Voted against filing positions for math teachers, reading teachers, Special Ed department personnel as well as maintenance positions and groundskeepers. He also voted against a TASB program that would evaluate positions and their pay to determine that employees were making what they should be and not underpaid.

2003- Voted against renovations to the existing buildings, Pearce, Losoya Intermediate, Southside Middle School and the Southside High School.

2011- Mr. Brewer announced to the community that he believes in the "voucher" system. Using vouchers to take a child to another district, hurts the current district because funding follows the child and takes it from the district the child is from. A voucher is more like a scholarship and rarely covers the entire cost of a transfer to another district.

2011-2014- Mr. Brewer spent million's of dollars on the Athletic Department, paying his supporters with positions, pay raises and perks. Hired unqualified personnel at pay scales that exceeded the average salary for said positions.

ESD#6 paths cross with Southside ISD again

Ms. Mendelsohn's candidates have all been on the ballot for the Southside ISD elections.

The Treasurer, Ms. Luisa Vargas, aka. Luisa Ramos Saenz, dropped her name in the hat. The same individual who was in charge of the finances for the ESD#6 and made no attempt to curtail their spending until it went bankrupt, ran for the Southside ISD school board. This candidate ran once before, unsuccessfully, after being let go from her job. Community allegations that Ms. Vargas had several complaints against her, stating she struck a student, squirted another with water in the face, etc. that lead to her dismissal run rampant within the community.

Financial reports show that Ms. Vargas didn't spend any funds on her last campaign or receive any funds, but she did put up election signs throughout the community. Ms. Vargas received a total of 220 votes in her election according to the elections website at www.bexar.org.

Ms. Luisa Vargas dropped out of the race. Ms. Vargas had put her name on the ballot to secure themselves a place on the ballot, as Mr. Chavez had not determined whether he would run. Since Mr. Chavez decided to run, she removed herself from the ticket.

ANOTHER VIOLATION: Ms. Luisa Vargas announced that Mr. Norberto "Robert" Chavez would probably not be with the ESD#6 for much longer because "he's going to the School Board". Not only was this a violation because she brought up the school board election during an ESD#6 meeting; it was arrogance by stating the he's going, when the elections had not yet been held.

Loren Brewer

The "missing" Golden Boy, Mr. Loren G. Brewer, (aka. Loren G. Adcock, Loren G. Martin, aka. Loren Martin, Loren Adcock Brewer) according to ESD#6 records, Mr. Brewer attended only the original meeting of the ESD#6 and never attended another meeting, stating he was TDY with the military or on active duty with the military. His attendance record was the same for his seat on the City South Board, his attendance was also in question as well during his final year on the Southside ISD school board and prior to his "re-enlistment". When questioned on the "stolen valor" issue, the ESD#6 removed the reason for his missing board meetings.

Mr. Brewer is the only candidate that previously served on the Southside ISD school board, He was censured and acquired land from the district while sitting as a board member. The property sitting on FM1937, the Buena Vista property owned by the school. The property is unkempt and involved in a legal battle since it's purchase.

Records also show that Mr. Brewer as a board member fought for free Pre-K for all 3 year old, having a child that would qualify for it. When the board failed to pass it due to the expense to the district, Mr. Brewer somehow managed to have his child enrolled into the Pre-K program. At the time Mr. Brewer owned rental properties in Atascosa County as well as property in Bexar County. He and his wife were gainfully employed, bumping someone with less financial means from having the opportunity to take advantage of this program. It has also been stated throughout the community that Mr. Brewer has talked about his reason for running for a position on the school board, stating "I'm running to get rid of Dr. Jasso." Dr. Juan Jasso is the Southside ISD Superintendent.

Alert!

The Southside ISD held a public forum meeting to get feed back from the community on their thoughts about possibly going to a 4 day schedule. (Texas does not allow for a 4 day schedule however, in Austin legislators are looking at the possibility of allowing this.) Mr. Brewer shamelessly used this forum to stand up and ask to speak, instead of voicing concerns he announced to the crowd that he was running for the school board and was asking for everyone to support him. While this was a classless move on his part, it was also a violation of the election process. A candidate "cannot" campaign on school property, during business hours or school related functions. Mr. Brewer continued to violate this rule, having been a previous member of the board, he should have known better, but continued to show up at the campus to campaign with the different department members. Mr. Brewer has continually shown that he believes he is above the law.

Another Violation: Mr. Brewer having no children at the High School Campus showed up at the campus to campaign during school hours and was escorted off the premises by the police.

BULLY TACTICS---NOTHING NEW

Mr. Brewer has had a long history of being a bully according to some comments on these pages from those who went to school with him and social media. Records of Mr. Brewers arrest for assault and bodily injury can be found as well at Bexar county office. Sadly, after twenty plus years, there seems to be little change in Mr. Brewer's moral compass.

Mr. Brewer was found to be using intimidation to get and or keep voters from the polls. Several community members were upset because Mr. Brewer told them that he would know if they voted or not. He also mentioned that he would know "how" they voted. This is true, a candidate can request a copy of the voters list daily to see who has voted by going to the election's website (www.bexar.org) and requesting a copy. However, they do not tell you how someone votes. Mr. Brewer chose the people of Villa Coronado as well as locals near the district office to intimidate. In Villa Coronado, he took Ms. Luisa Vargas, member of the ESD#6 board along for translation purposes.

Mr. Brewer and his fellow candidates made it uncomfortable for voters during early voting by spending time at the Southside ISD poll site and stopping voters and harassing them for their vote, then stopping them on the way out to try to find out how they voted. They were told by the elections people to stop this behavior, but they continued. Several members of the community chose to park at the rear of the building and walk around to the entrance to avoid Mr. Brewer and his group.

During the 2015 elections, the voting site was changed to an area that was harder to get to and parking was scarce as it was at a school campus during school hours, while the Southside ISD board room was empty and had plenty of parking. Election day, the "team" chose to hold a board meeting, changing the voting site to the same area as early voting.

Deception Comes Naturally

Frank Henry Cannon, Jr.

The elected member of the Southside ISD board whom replaced incumbent Rick Quebe, Frank. H. Cannon, Jr., was a new board member, but not new to the community or ties to the embattled ESD#6 members. Mr. Cannon, who grew up in the Harlandale school district was according to marriage records, the brother-in-law of Mr. Norbert (Norberto) Chavez. Mr. Cannon was a business owner in Atascosa and Bexar County where he owned a construction company as well as an electrical company with history of legal action taken for refusing to pay his suppliers and like his brother-in-law, has tax problems. According to county records, Mr. Cannon was in arrears for taxes dating back to 2003, after building a home valued at $325,000 and is attached to tax litigation. Once elected to the board, his taxes were paid. Mr. Cannon's wife was a member of the Southside ISD staff and left the district to work for another district taking her children out of the Southside School District. One child, remained at the district until he graduated. Mr. Cannon, not a catholic, used the El Carmen Catholic Church to gain voter support. Mr. Cannon went on a retreat with church members, which angered many in the community. It had also been said to the community that Mr. Cannon's mother-in-law, a member of the staff at Southside ISD had been promised a promotion now that Ms. Mendelsohn's candidates have been elected, a promise that was kept shortly after the "team" took control of the Southside ISD Board. Mr. Cannon was arrested at a school board meeting when a warrant for his arrest was served at a Southside ISD board meeting for failure to pay his debt of $14,000 on fines for driving without insurance, a license and other penalties. It is not clear if Mr. Cannon paid those fines, but Mr. Cannon chose not to run for election.

Alma Rosa Guzman Estrada

Former employee of the District, Ms. Alma Guzman Estrada (aka. Alma Rosa Guzman, Alma Castillo, Alma Guerrero, Alma Hinojosa); was involved in litigation with the Southside ISD as she ran for a position on the school board. According to an agenda, Ms. Estrada filed an EEOC complaint, one of numerous complaints against the district while she was employed there. In October 2002, Ms. Estrada filed a level II grievance with the district. Mr. Brewer supported Ms. Estrada. Ms. Estrada like the other members showed her ties to Ms. Sylvia Ruiz Mendelsohn, when she allowed her home to be used to make flyers with false accusations on former board member Mr. Knapp during his campaign to retain his seat in 2011. Ms. Estrada cost the district thousands of dollars in legal fees at a time when budgets were already strained. She had no shame in telling the community that she was seeking a settlement for nearly one million dollars. The question arose in the community and by the media; how can a candidate run for a position on a board that makes day to day decisions for the students and staff, who is taking money away from them?

According to a comment made by Mr. Crowley of the South Bexar Fire and Rescue, Ms. Estrada was "forced" to file a lawsuit against the district because she was not given the position of Director of Maintenance. According to agenda minutes (www.southsideisd.org), Ms. Estrada, secretary of maintenance was given a promotion to Maintenance Manger which did not require a degree to fulfill. The Director of Maintenance position was given to a Mr. Bairado, who according to minutes, continued to save the district money by taking his background in construction and implementing his maintenance employees with the task of doing as much of the construction and repairs before spending school funds on outside contracts. In turn, training his staff with new skills and utilizing his own to save the district money.

Ms. Estrada lost her case, filed an appeal and was losing her appeal, when the team took control of the district funds. The "team" voted to give Ms. Estrada, $120,000 in a settlement for a case that she had already lost in court.

Southside ISD Administrative Building

Comments

Southside Supporter on May 19, 2011:

I hope the new board members recognize how much progress SISD has made in Career and Technology and Special Education. The Special Education department has progressed tremendously.

JJS on May 14, 2011:

To Craig Knapp - Congratulations on a job well done on the school board and on winning the election tonight!!

To Raul Martinez - Congratulations to you, too, on your big win tonight and for the job you have done for the children at Southside.

To Rey Gonzalez and Rick Quebe - Thank you so very, very for everything you both have done for the schools and please don't give up the fight. I'm ready to work for the both of you next time. We still need people of integrity and I believe you both qualify!

JJS on May 14, 2011:

TODAY IS THE DAY to go cast you vote. It is truly unbelievable what has been happening in this election. I voted early as did so many other residents, but today is the last day to vote in this critical election. I hope everyone who is registered to vote does not ignore the importance of this school board election and goes to exercise their right and duty to vote. I implore people to seriously consider what each side has to offer before casting their vote. Promises are a dime a dozen, especially when those promises are just vague "fogbanks" and have no substantiation or facts behind them. Also, consider what it must mean when a candidate has nothing to say about the other candidate except unkind and untrue remarks. This election is not just a popularity contest - it's a decision we are all making about our children. What on earth could be more important?!??

Mad as Hell on May 10, 2011:

Well, those in the "want to be a SISD boardmember" camp have sunk to a new low!! A friend of mine let me know that some of the "others" came to his house while block- walking and engaged him and some of his family members in conversation. They offered my friend and his family a ride to polls (which really very nice), got his name and the names of his family members through friendly conversation, then informed him they would not only know whether or not he and his family voted, but WHO they cast their vote for!!!! I advised my friend to report this abhorant act to the people in charge at the voting place. This about as low as it goes!! Through talking to others in his neighborhood, my friend has found others that were told the same thing. This obviously puts a chilling effect on the whole voting process and could keep some people away from the polls or even sway the way they choose to vote out of fear of retaliation for not voting the way they were told to vote. It absolutely turns my stomach!!!!

JJS on May 03, 2011:

Post whatever you find here so we will all know the closest place to go vote. I still say go with the tried and true and the honest and honorable. That pretty much leaves out ANYONE connected in ANY fashion to the ESD, and also anyone involved in litigation against the school district. But then that's just MY opinion!

Ken Bouldin on May 02, 2011:

JJS, I haven't had a chance to reply, but since I posted the notice about the tagging, the sign was replaced. But as soon as that was done, Rick Quebe's and Ray Martinez's signs were tagged. My neighbors are on the lookout now, and since it is now election time (as soon as I can call tomorrow and find out where early voting will be!!), I'm going to vote for the best candidates for the SISD Board. And none of them are related to each other!! Make sure to tell everyo

JJS on April 25, 2011:

I have signs on my fence, too, and so far, so good. No damage. No one has bothered them and God help the person that decides they might want to. My dogs bite, my husband's shotgun stays loaded and I happen to be one very crazy person, not to mention a helluva shot.

I have a right to support the candidates of my choice as does anyone else. I also enjoy the right and the duty to vote for whomever I believe will best serve the best interests of this area and our children in school. You may or may not agree with me and that's YOUR right. However, destroying or vandalizing something on MY property is a whole different story. Some people do indeed need to grow up, and some people need to simply learn to follow the rules. Others, unfortunately, have lost their moral compass and will never truly understand that their actions are illegal, immoral and unacceptable. Sad, but true.

Lady Liberty (author) from These United States, Texas on April 18, 2011:

If the Southside community members have learned one thing from the ESD6 and Ms. Mendelsohn, is that she and her candidates have a problem with moral decisions. They don't have the mindset to do things ethically.

Kenneth E Bouldin Jr. on April 11, 2011:

I attended the SISD Superintendant's Community Forum tonight at the SISD Board Room. I know some of the Ata-Bexar Members were at their Station with a Auxilliary Meeting, but was not surprised with the turn-out (or actually lack thereof) at the Community Forum, only 13 in attendance. Not much of the information passed on was new,but a few items might be of interest.

1) there were 50 early out bonuses offered by the School District for employees wanted to take advantage in lieu of termination, only 22 accepted the bonuses.

The Board is continuing to actively pursue the Law suit against the ESD Board. This was discussed after Dr. Jasso was asked if he was concerned about Fire Protection Coverage for the School. He reluctantly agreed there is a problem.

3) They are still working on budget issues, and in addition to the State cuts, now they are concerned about possible Federal Cuts.

Also anyone who missed the Meet the Candidates Forum at the High School, missed certain individuals who are frequently discussed on the site (Loren Brewer and Norberto Chavez) talk about how they are going to change the condition of the District which is poor according to them, and it wasn't Brewer discussing Pre-K like during his Board days, not its Chavez. Some things never change, including Mr. Brewer attempting to hand out campaign materials prior to the meeting (will he ever learn???)

Also I would like to pass on the dirty tricks that have already started during this School Board election. I had Campaign signs placed in front of my house last saturday, and sometime Saturday night someone tageed the sign of Rey Gonzales, and left the other signs alone. Come on people grow up, hopefully you will be found, instead of defacing his signs, use your political freedom and vote against him in may, that is if you have those rights!!

Southside Supporter on April 09, 2011:

Southside ISD is doing some great things. Keep up the good work

Mad as Hell on April 07, 2011:

So here's the conclusion I have come to - 1st, we need to keep the emcumbant school board members. No brainer! They have all done a good job and are better qualified to face the budget cuts coming out of Austin. Next step is to decide who to put into Danny's seat. Our choices are 1) a candidate that is suing the school district and costing it money OR 2) a candidate that has a reputation of fundraising for the school kids and is active in the schools' functions. Hmmmm. OK. Ready for step 2 - vote for Mr. Rey Gonzalez since he seems to be very community minded, knows the value of each and every dollar for the school district and the children involved, and there's no confusion regarding his name.

WOW!! That was easier than I thought.

Mad as Hell on March 31, 2011:

OK, let me try this again since the last one wasn't all that clear. The Board responsible for distributing the tax revenues will also be another (same) board that receives the tax revenues. Does that make better sense?

Mad as Hell on March 29, 2011:

Starting their own fire dept AND the ESD board will be the new fire dept.'s board as well. In other words, the board responsible for distributing the tax revenues will also be receiving the tax revenues! Nowhere else in the real world would this be acceptable!

Melissa Hammond from San Antonio on March 21, 2011:

WOW! Just got word the ESD #6 is moving forward with starting their every own fire dept now.

"DISTRICT 6 FIRE & RESCUE, INC."

If you want the latest go to the ESD meeting this Thursday night at 6pm at the ESD office at 2220 south 1604 east . Stay tuned!

Lady Liberty (author) from These United States, Texas on March 18, 2011:

Mad as Hell, Daniel Rodriguez is not running. The battle for his seat is between Ms. Alma Estrada who is running under her maiden name: Alma Rosa Guzman. Possibly because she is involved in litigation with the district under Alma Estrada. Personal vendetta/conflict of interest quickly comes to mind on this one. She is running against a Mr. Rey Gonzales, who is well known within the district for the hours he volunteers at the campus and his involvement with the PTA.

Mad as Hell on March 17, 2011:

How many favors can she possibly have left to pull in? I'll gladly support the current board although I don't know what we could possibly do for Danny's seat since he's running unopposed. Never the less, I'll block walk with the other gentleman, I'll put signs in my yard, hell, I'll even put signs on my roof so the air traffic can see them! I'll contribute to campaigns, you name it. Abecedarian, if you'll post the information here, or somewhere, as to campaign addresses or phone numbers, times and locations of any rallies, I think we can get this community behind the school board members. I think now is the time to step down hard on TANCO once and for all. Let's see, how many firefighters do we have combined that have been affected by Sylvia Mendelsohn? Times how many family members? Times how many community members? Even if they don't live in the voting area, they still constitute manpower to get the word out. Think about it.

Lady Liberty (author) from These United States, Texas on March 17, 2011:

Well, it seems that Ms. Mendelsohn is using her political connections already in these school board elections as they are just kicking off. It is my understanding that the incumbents are putting up their signs in the area already. As of yesterday, not one, but two individuals and different times of the day, but the same location were checking their signs yesterday, as they were photographed by a community member. Ms. Mendelsohn has a history of getting personally involved and it looks like she's calling in favors already. This election should prove to be interesting.

Jose Farinacci on March 16, 2011:

WOW. I soo hope that I make it back for those elections. I have never been involved in politics but for this one I would go knowck door to door to let people know that Loren, "Chica" Vargas, and "Chico" Chavez are not the choice to make. They have already jeopardized the lives of the students with the ESD, God only knows what they would do as school board members.

JJS on March 15, 2011:

You don't say! Go figure! But my question is, once Mr. Chavez and Ms. Vargas step down from the ESD 6 board, then what? Do those 2 seats sit vacant indefinitely as Mr. Brewer's seat did? Or does Chico call Sylvia for advice on who she wants to "appoint" to sit with her on the board. I believe the rules state that these 2 can sit on the ESD board while they run for school board, correct? But on the other hand, how can they be effective for the ESD while focusing their time and energy on a campaign? Of course that's not saying much on the part of Mr. Chavez, since he doesn't attend ESD meetings anyway. I wonder if we could expect the same absentee behavior from him if he were elected to the school board. If so, then what's the point of him even trying to get the school board seat? He would rarely be present. As for Loren Brewer, he's got to be kidding!! How can he possibly serve on the school board when he's "TDY" and "active duty in Iraq or Afganistan or some place" so much of the time? Did the Army conveniently send him home at just the right time so that he could "serve" his community, instead of his country?

Loren, do you really think people believed all the TDY garbage that was being spread around?!? Please!!!