HISD trustees vote to reinstate interim superintendent
Houston ISD trustees formally voted Thursday to reinstate interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan and take steps toward repairing their fractured relationship after an acrimonious meeting last week marred by personal attacks and a covert move to replace Lathan.
In a widely expected outcome, trustees voted 9-0 to rescind their move last week to demote Lathan back to chief academic officer and hire former HISD superintendent Abelardo Saavedra as the district’s interim leader. Trustees also voted 7-0, with two board members absent, to take actions in response to last week’s rancorous meeting: set an April 2019 target date for completing their ongoing superintendent search; explore hiring an executive coach; request a new state-appointed governance monitor; and abide by a “reconciliation” resolution.
“As I reflect over these past days, I feel disappointed in the four days of turmoil,” trustee Sergio Lira said. “We lost sight that students are our focus, our priority.”
The votes mark trustees’ first concrete moves since drawing widespread criticism for their actions at their Oct. 11 meeting. Following a cascade of allegations of unethical behavior, racism and hypocrisy, trustee Diana Dávila surprised some of her colleagues by making a motion to remove Lathan from her position and temporarily replace her with Saavedra, who led HISD from 2004 to 2009. Five trustees voted to hire Saavedra, with four opposed.
Trustees supporting Saavedra gave no public indication prior to the vote that they intended to seek Lathan’s removal. The five trustees who voted to remove Lathan — including all four of the board’s Hispanic members — each spoke in private with Saavedra before last week’s vote, while the four other trustees — including all three of the board’s black members — did not communicate with him.
Three trustees said they wanted to remove Lathan to ensure potential permanent candidates did not have to compete with an incumbent interim for the superintendent position. However, Saavedra said trustees approached him about replacing Lathan because they felt Lathan had become unresponsive to their priorities and input.
‘Time for theatrics is over’
The move prompted immediate backlash from many black civic leaders, along with community members who said trustees should not have secretly coordinated to hire Saavedra. On Sunday, two days after the vote, Saavedra announced he no longer intended to accept the position. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Saavedra said he quickly found “the dysfunction is not at the superintendent or leadership level, it’s at the board level.”
All nine trustees gathered Monday to announce they intended to keep Lathan indefinitely in light of Saavedra’s decision, issuing a joint public apology for their behavior.
“The time for theatrics is over,” trustee Elizabeth Santos said Thursday. “We must put everything else aside and focus on the work we need to do.”
Lathan, who attended Thursday’s meeting but did not speak about the ongoing uproar, will continue indefinitely in her position as HISD begins its search for a permanent leader. Although HISD has been without a permanent leader since March, when thensuperintendent Richard Carranza abruptly left to become chancellor of New York City public schools, district trustees did not start the superintendent search process until September.
By setting a target end date for the superintendent search, trustees may stem growing discord over the issue. Some trustees have voiced frustration that the superintendent search was not started sooner. Other trustees have noted that the board wanted to wait until after mid-August, when the district learned whether it may be subject to a state takeover of its elected school board, to commence the search. HISD avoided the possible state takeover when four of its longest-struggling schools met state academic stanmonths, dards.
Tight-lipped on details
In their “reconciliation” resolution, trustees agreed to respect one another, engage in teambuilding and work with an executive coach. Trustees voted Thursday to authorize Lathan and board President Rhonda SkillernJones to seek out executive coaches, with a vote on hiring expected at a Nov. 9 meeting.
While trustees did not elaborate on their reasons for requesting a new state-appointed governance monitor, some previously had voiced disagreement with opinions expressed by the current monitor, Doris Delaney. In recent the former Aldine ISD administrator has been documenting trustees’ actions and offering sometimes-critical judgments of their governance. The TEA conducts quarterly reviews of stateappointed monitors.
Trustees moved swiftly Thursday, with only two board members briefly discussing Lathan’s retention and no conversation held about the other four matters up for vote. Skillern-Jones declined to comment following the meeting. It is unclear whether April 2019 represents a hard deadline for the superintendent search. Trustees also have not specified the cost of a potential executive coach.
Board members and Lathan have remained tight-lipped since their Monday press conference, where they took no questions. Jasmine Jenkins, executive director of Houston GPS, an education advocacy group that closely monitors HISD’s school board, said she is “unsatisfied” with the relative silence from trustees in recent days. Jenkins also acknowledged that a coordinated effort to remain quiet could serve the board well.
“I respect the fact that they might need to do that in order to build up trust among themselves,” Jenkins said. “I think it’s just an indication that they really have not dug into these issues yet.” jacob.carpenter@chron.com twitter.com/chronjacob