Alia Malik May 28, 2015 Updated: May 28, 2015 7:31 p.m.
Ricardo Vela was allowed to work as superintendent through a waiver from the state.
About a week after a new majority took office, the Southside Independent School District board will meet today to consider replacing controversial Superintendent Ricardo Vela with an interim schools chief.
Vela, who does not have superintendent certification, was hired as the district’s interim superintendent two years ago when the board suspended his predecessor, Juan Jasso. It took the board seven months to fire Jasso for reasons that were never made clear to the public. Vela was made permanent superintendent last year under a contract that expires in 2017.
To keep his job without certification, Vela obtained a waiver from the Texas Education Agency for the current school year that will be extended through the next school year only if he demonstrates “significant progress” toward earning his certification. To earn certification, Vela, the district’s former assistant superintendent for finance, must complete the requirements for a teacher certification and then a principal certification.
Vela’s lack of certification is the new board majority’s biggest problem with him, Gonzales and board vice president Kenneth Bouldin said.
Vela did not return messages Thursday seeking comment.
Today meeting will be at 6 p.m. in the old gym of Southside High School, 19190 U.S. 281 South. The venue was changed from the usual board meeting room at district headquarters because trustees said they are expecting a large crowd.
After an executive session, the board will consider whether to place Vela on administrative leave and appoint an interim superintendent. Gonzales said candidates for interim superintendent had been interviewed by three board members — one short of a quorum — and that the board could pick one who is certified and does not currently work for the district.
The board also will consider whether to send a notice to the TEA alleging that Vela has not made progress toward his certification and asking the agency to rescind the waiver. The new board majority says Vela’s waiver application was supposed to include a board-approved plan for him to achieve his certification requirements but that the former board never approved such a plan.
Bouldin said he believed that the new board had contacted the TEA to report the omission, but the TEA could not confirm Thursday afternoon whether it had been contacted.
Vela was hired in March 2014, but it took him four months to apply to the TEA for a waiver. Trustees said the controversy over Vela’s hiring prompted state Sen. Carlos Uresti, a local Democrat, to introduce a bill that has passed both houses of the Legislature this session. The bill stipulates that school districts cannot hire uncertified superintendents before they have received a waiver from the state education commissioner.
The board also will consider whether to fire the two law firms currently representing the district — Walsh Gallegos Treviño Russo & Kyle and Schulman, Lopez & Hoffer — and replace them with Austin-based O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath, which helped the new board majority obtain a court order barring the former board from extending Vela’s contract in a lame-duck session.