Credence Grievance

KISD Blog By Liz Ramos

6/21/2020

I apologize as it has been a while. I have been gathering a lot of paperwork and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. It is the hurry up and wait of KISD. I thought I was done with that married to the military. Fortunately for me I am used to this so it doesn’t really affect me in anyway. Here is the deal in a nut shell. If you want to file a grievance at KISD above the campus level, hire a lawyer. I hope you have pre-paid legal services or you can afford $80-400 an hour in legal services depending on the lawyer. Not so easy for the high indigent population of Kingsville.

In The Kingsville Record’s June 18th’s paper, Mr. Alfredo Ortiz called me out without saying my name. I am not weak. I can name names. Just say my name, Mr. Ortiz. It is ok. He stated, “It is alarming and overwhelming that upwards of eight grievances have been filed within the past few months by the same party.” That ‘party’ would be me if no one got that. He wanted to “bring attention to an abuse of process” at KISD. Wonderful for him, because I have been trying to bring that issue to light for over a year now!

He knows exactly what I am talking about; the grievance process. He has been through it as well. He did the ‘up the ladder’ of the process in filing a grievance with the district and knows how absolutely ridiculous, time consuming and bias it is. Touché, Mr. Ortiz! You could have welcomed me to the club. Instead Mr. Ortiz is insulting the fact that I am holding public servants accountable for their behavior after he did the same in 2015. Please take a gander…this is public knowledge that I came upon in 2018…https://www.leagle.com/decision/infdco20150918b18. Pot meet kettle.

He states that “this abuse for process undoubtedly puts a strain on the district’s legal and financial resources.” Where has this guy been in the last year? If I have cost KISD money it is a small drop in the bucket in comparison. I did an open records request Friday (because I want to be transparent) to ask how much money has been spent on my grievances since Bera left, because that is when I started filing them. I guarantee nothing has been spent. The board hasn’t heard any of them so how in the world would money be spent? He finishes by stating, “financial resources that could be better allocated to the betterment and enrichment of the education of Kingsville students.” Does he mean spending money on a new expensive curriculum that teachers will only use for a few months before they change it on them once again? You mean KISD resources that went to doing favors for board members personal gain? Or paying a superintendent’s salary while she sat at home and did nothing?

This is a funny one. He states I have, “Made a mockery of the grievance process due to political disagreement.” I started filing grievances since November 2019, prior to putting my name in against Prado. My first grievance I have filed was then about the grievance process. The process is insulting to say the least. I was emailed later that they have a new process and will take care of it asap. I in returned asked what the new process was and received no response, per most usual from KISD. I still do not know what exactly they have changed and what the new process is or will be.

Since then the grievances I have filed have not been heard. I put everything together and came up with this: 5 grievances against board members and 1 that has all three of you know who’s in the grievance. I could make that an extra 3 but I consolidated them. I have 6 active grievances against board members. The first one of those was filed Sept 18th, 2019!!!!!!! Nothing has been spent on any of them. So, quit trying to say I am somehow taking money from kids. I also have a grievance I put in today for Open Records Request for Public Information I have yet to receive. Correction on my campaign page, I have 7 active grievances at the district.

What is truly a mockery is how long it takes a grievance to be heard by the board at KISD! Mr. Ortiz, did your grievance sit for NINE MONTHS!? NINE MONTHS!? In nine months I could have made a baby, taken two semesters of classes at a college, done a 6-month tour in Afghanistan as a soldier or undergone 10 surgeries to change my identity. During long periods on a grievance that time is when people get retaliated against. I have met parents and teachers that have been retaliated against by my opponent in this race just because they said something he didn’t like. I have also heard rumors of parents and teachers filing grievances against Prado and been retaliated against and nothing ever becomes of the grievance. Prado will try and ruin you. Now he gets a taste of his own medicine. Instead I try and do it the proper way. Anything can happen to someone between the time they file and the time they are heard or they redact their grievance. KISD hopes you just forget about it or go away or die before they hear it at a Level 3. Is that ok to you, Mr. Ortiz? Is this the district being responsible? Is this the district being respectful? Is this the district being accountable?

I should be holding Mr. Brian Coufal accountable for not hearing my grievances. I don’t know why he hasn’t called them. Is he afraid of doing so? It is his job to do so. There should be no reason why he didn’t hear any of my grievances at the next scheduled regular school board meeting. There is a lawyer for the district present at every single one of those meetings!

Mr. Ortiz goes on to say KISD has, “essentially created an environment in which any Kingsville ISD official or employee with any disagreement with the candidate will face a grievance.” First, I only have grievances against board members and a failed ORR. I have not filed a grievance against an employee of the district. I cannot go to Prado and talk to him. He has made it very well known he doesn’t want me near him and he doesn’t like me. Corando Garza Sr. is impossible for me to get ahold of so there is no real talking to him either. Cory Garza Sr. I may be able to talk to but rather not. I, 100% of the time take a good faith effort in trying to have an issue rectified. Most of the time I go above and beyond and give people more chances than they deserve. Thing is, I cannot talk to them. Therefore, off I go filing a grievance. I am not going to spend time trying to talk to people who don’t want to listen. They don’t want to hear that they are wrong. They cannot be humbled. They will never admit wrongdoing and promise to rectify. It is not in Corando Garza Sr. or Prado’s nature.

Mr. Ortiz also has been going crazy on his personal Facebook page against me. People have sent me screen shots of him calling me a non-taxpayer and weak. He said I am stalking him or something. Aint nobody got time for that.

He is boasting about getting information on me. Please, Mr. Ortiz. Please tell the community what it is you think you know about me. Remember ya’ll. I am a different kind of person than Prado and Garza Sr. I don’t mind owning my life. I don’t try to be someone I am not. I am a mother, a wife and a head-strong woman who tries to do my best for myself and others. I am not perfect. Let’s get that straight. Never claimed to be. I won’t have my name strung along in the mud. I understand perfectly well that when I put my name against Prado I stepped in the pig pen and there may be mud slug at me. Sling all you want, but the first time you try and blast my name for something I have not done I will be let it known either you are wrong or why and who I am.

As far as not paying taxes. I don’t know what he means by that. I don’t pay anything. I don’t work. I’d love to work, but I decided to put my kids and husband first. I am no stranger to working 6 plus days a week 12 plus hours a day and I will work hard for KISD. I do though, pay the bills with the money my husband makes. He pays the rent(s). Whatever the landlord decides to do with it is up to the landlord. They can pay their mortgage payment or not. And if you want to get technical, no homeowner pays property taxes unless they outright own their home. Meaning they don’t write a check to the county/city directly unless they own the home. He is talking smack about many parents and community members who take their children to KISD and make rental payments to their landlord or mortgage payment to their lender. I am assuming he also means that if you don’t pay property taxes you should have not say in the district?

He is bashing me for holding the district and the board members accountable and that sits just fine and well with me. If I happen to get a seat on the board, I want nothing more than the citizens and community of Kingsville to hold me accountable as well. I encourage it!

I will post a list of the grievances tomorrow.