Weslaco ISD is still declining to release any additional details on an incident in which an employee allegedly slapped a student last year, although the news coverage of the scandal did spark a policy discussion on the school board that provided a timeline on how it was reported.
Asked about a shocking video that appeared to show an adult slapping a child at the district last December, the district confirmed an employee had been terminated over the incident.
Police arrested employee Magdalena Sustaita, the aide in the video, in January and charged her with injury to a child.
In February, the district failed to answer any questions about the reporting timeline indicated in police documents, and also failed to say whether it was aware of Sustaita’s mental state.
Medical records provided to police indicated that Sustaita displayed signs of dementia and mental illness, and court records show Sustaita’s daughter applied for guardianship over her in December based on her incapacitations.
A second attempt to ask the district those questions again went unanswered this week.
The Monitor submitted a public information request to the district last month for any district communications pertaining to that incident that don’t contain personally identifiable information of any students or staff.
The district said those records don’t exist.
However, the district issued statements regarding that incident to The Monitor and other media outlets late last year, statements that did not include identifiable information of students or staff.
The district responded with a statement and no other documents when pressed about the apparent discrepancy last week.
“Weslaco ISD does not have any other documents responsive to your request,” the district wrote.
The district did not respond to a request for comment on why that statement was omitted in the first place or any transparency concerns that omission raises.
Media coverage and community concern over that incident have not gone unnoticed.
Trustee Jacky Sustaita, who has no known relation to Magdalena Sustaita, voiced concerns over the chain of command reporting protocol prompted by December’s incident during a policy discussion on the board last week.
“When we have a big problem, for example what happened in the news a couple of months ago, which I don’t even want to think about, but what you read out there in the public and in the newspaper, oh well … I want to make sure that we all understand that the person that the principals notify is the superintendent,” she said. “That’s the first person that we notify. Yes, there’s a chain, of course there’s always a chain of command. But for something that is very serious, the superintendent is the one that principals notify. Not HR, not anybody else.”
Interim Superintendent Criselda “Cris” Valdez said protocol for an incident that warrants an administrative investigation dictates reporting to human resources.
“In the specific case that you’re referencing, I was told 65 minutes afterwards. At the time, in reflecting, I was meeting — it was on a Wednesday; we had board planning — … with (Board President) Coach Cuellar,” she said. “Coach Cuellar was in my office. Dora Lisa Zavala was standing outside by my secretary’s area to inform me within minutes that (the) principal had already contacted the office to go to send her over there.”
Severe cases, Valdez said, can be communicated directly to her, and she listed ways principals can make those reports.
“And I will get with the principals as far as the communication piece of it. But we’re always in the loop of everything,” she said, adding that principals do a good job of communicating potentially volatile situations to the superintendent.
Trustee Sustaita said via email Thursday that she was concerned by the timeline of that alleged slapping incident, but ultimately does think the administration responded to it appropriately.
“Like in any other workplace, there is a chain of command and a pipeline that filters information up to the leader, but when it comes to the safety of students, we shouldn’t have to go through several departments before the information gets to the one person with authority to act — the superintendent,” she wrote. “Dr. Valdez confirmed that she and the principals have a process set up on how to communicate quickly on student safety issues, and I’m glad she clarified that there is open communication between them.”
Trustee Sustaita did say that she has been pushing for some kind of more efficient reporting mechanism for allegations of misconduct.
“I have been asking, for months now, for some sort of web-based reporting site, or our very own Weslaco ISD app for smart phones/devices that has a “reporting” link, among other beneficial features,” she wrote.
The district is facing a glut of allegations of misconduct, retaliation and administrative incompetence that came to light in a series of open session grievance hearings brought to the board this semester.
Those allegations follow the delivery of a contentious forensic audit report last semester that led to two high-level administrative terminations and policy changes at the district that are ongoing.
Former superintendent Priscilla Canales exited the district just before that audit was completed and the board installed Valdez as her interim replacement.
The board will hold two special meetings this week to interview potential permanent replacements for the superintendent opening.
Trustee Sustaita wrote that she feels the reporting site she’s proposing would help the district resolve issues faster, specifically citing the need for anonymous reporting for employees who fear retaliation.
“Having better lines of communication between our community, staff, and administrators is the goal here. Not everyone has Facebook, Twitter, or other social media platforms, but if we can offer different types of ways to talk, even anonymously — for those that fear “retaliation” as I hear in many cases — then we can tackle issues at hand quicker,” she wrote. “Of course there will be information that may be irrelevant or false, but we can find ways to solve that problem if it comes up.
“I would definitely push for something like this for our district, we live in a technological world, so we need to take advantage of the tools we have and use them to respond to our students’ needs.”
