Two administrators with the Hidalgo County Head Start Program who were facing possible disciplinary action for comments they made to the policy council last month were not hit with any immediate repercussions after their employment was discussed Thursday, and neither of those employees expect any significant punishment whatsoever.
Chief Financial Officer Elma Carrera and Assistant Director of Operations Services Edmundo Garcia — both longtime employees — spoke up at policy council meetings in September, urging members to carefully consider their actions regarding then-Executive Director Teresa Flores and criticizing the way Flores was terminated.
Those remarks, Carrera and Garcia said, resulted in complaints being lodged against them by at least one member of the council. The program declined to comment on the nature of the complaints.
The council did not discuss those complaints or possible disciplinary action related to them in public on Thursday, but after about 45 minutes in executive session the council voted to advise interim Director Irma Peña to take appropriate action she deemed necessary regarding the employees.
Peña declined to comment on what action she plans to take, describing it as a personnel matter. Carrera and Garcia told The Monitor on Friday that they had not been disciplined and didn’t expect to face any significant blowback for their comments.
“We’re not fired,” Garcia said Friday.
Both of the administrators elected to address the council in public rather than behind closed doors, and neither appeared cowed by the threat of disciplinary action. It appears that placing Carrera and Garcia on Thursday’s agenda may have been a misstep for whichever member complained about them; the most significant outcome seemed to be an opportunity for the administrators to publicly restate and defend their comments from last month.
“I strongly believe that my right to speak during open forum has caused me to face possible … disciplinary action from the policy council,” Carrera told the council. “As the chief financial officer of this program, I can assure you that I have done nothing wrong to merit this consideration. Nor did I ever intend to hurt anyone in this policy council.”
Carrera said wrangling on the council in August had prompted fear and sparked unfounded rumors of impropriety among the rank and file of the organization’s employees, conditions she felt justified addressing the council prior to Flores’ termination.
According to Carrera, Peña told her that a member of the council was upset over a Bible verse she quoted to the council in September. Carrera said she’d intended her comments to be constructive and sincere, and said she even received compliments on the comments from some council members, coworkers and legal counsel Ric Gonzalez.
“My thoughts and hope that night were to reach your heart and to reach your decision — for you to make the best decision for this program. That was my intention,” she said.
For his part, Garcia echoed Carrera’s comments about speculation and rumor running rampant in the program because of the council’s actions in August.
By putting himself and Carrera up for discussion, Garcia argued that the council was perhaps misunderstanding its role.
“What are we doing here? Why are we here?” he said. “This is not really what the policy council should be involved in, but here we are.”
Garcia was a picture of meekness, speaking softly and politely. He said he perhaps could have delivered his comments in September more eloquently, but he didn’t back down from their substance, and charged the council with improving.
“So I can only promise you one thing: I can promise you that I can do better,” he said. “I’m just wondering if you can promise the same thing, can you do better? Can you actually concentrate on the job that the policy council is supposed to do?”
If by doing better Garcia meant smooth council meetings, the body achieved that Thursday. It was interim executive director Peña’s first meeting, and she seemed to work well with the members. Gone was the infighting and raised voices that had become a frequent feature of council meetings.
The council swore in members Thursday, including five new parent representatives. Avelina Peña Segovia retained her chairperson position, while Rosa Perez was voted into the vice chair position previously held by vocal minority faction member Abraham Padron.
