Rivard Report: UIW Sought to Influence SAISD Trustees On Day of Board Meeting

Hours before San Antonio’s largest inner city district school board met Monday evening to consider disposition of a 2.43 acre property sought by the San Antonio Zoo for a public parking garage next to Brackenridge Park, a senior University of the Incarnate Word executive emailed a letter to school board trustees seeking to wrest control of the property so UIW could construct its own private garage and 368-bed student dormitory there.

San Antonio Independent School District Superintendent Pedro Martinez and Kamal ElHabr, the district’s associate superintendent for facilities, were left in the dark about the proposal, even though the letter sent by email to trustees was addressed to ElHabr and supposedly copied to Martinez. The letter was dated Jan. 7, four days before the board meeting.

The undisclosed UIW offer was structured in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and the letter’s heading and date left trustees with the misimpression that senior district administrators had been presented the MOU days earlier. As of Wednesday afternoon, the letter from UIW had not arrived at SAISD administration offices.

Learn more by clicking here for an article from the The Rivard Report.