Unfortunately, the last sixty days have shown me a problematic management culture in the district. I have learned that if you speak out about feeling uncomfortable with managers who are protected by a board member, you will be on the receiving end of consequences.
Former McAllen ISD Marketing and Communications Department Assistant Director Felicia Villarreal alleged that she was retaliated against after speaking to human resources representatives about a culture of inappropriate behavior in her department last year.
Villarreal contended in her complaint from November that speaking out against Jake Berry, the department’s director at the time, resulted in duties being reassigned from her and in an effort to transfer her to a different department.
“I believe I am being retaliated against to protect Mr. Berry,” she wrote.
Villarreal alleged Superintendent J.A. Gonzalez told her she was brought up as a candidate for a position in a different department after she voiced concerns.
Gonzalez justified the creation of that position to trustees last October as an efficiency measure rather than as an attempt to solve a festering personnel issue.
Trustees didn’t go for it, and the effort failed.
Gonzalez did not respond to requests for comment.
Villarreal’s complaint alleged Berry fostered an unprofessional workplace culture. A rival complaint filed by Berry’s former secretary, Victoria Pena, claimed Villarreal played a role in perpetuating that hostile culture herself.
Pena did not respond to requests for comment while Berry has disputed some claims and told The Monitor he feels the situation is being used politically.
Pena and Berry both left the district this year.
Villarreal remains a district employee, now in the district’s counseling department. She said this week that she feels complaints against her were made without merit and that she expects to be exonerated.
In her complaint from November, Villarreal describes meeting with human resources three times about the situation before deciding to officially complain in writing.
Villarreal claims that in mid-October, Berry told her that he’d been contacted by HR about her concerns. She writes about noticing some of her job duties being reassigned to others.
Berry told The Monitor he was not reassigning duties in retaliation but following advice from the district’s human resources department on interacting with her.
Human resources, Berry wrote, advised him to “create more defined roles so that people in the department understood their roles better, and I did,” saying job descriptions were redefined to reduce confusion.
Around the same time, Villarreal wrote, Gonzalez, the superintendent, met with both of them to discuss ongoing personnel turmoil.
Villarreal claimed she was surprised by Gonzalez telling her she’d been considered for a post in the district’s Student Support Services Department.
“This was all news to me and I had no idea that I had been thought of for this position,” she wrote.
At the school board’s Oct. 24 meeting, trustees weighed a proposal from Gonzalez to create an assistant director position in that department.
Gonzalez told trustees the department’s work volume justified creating the post, describing it as a way to leverage the district’s personnel more efficiently.
“We have some options with regard to internal movement so we can create some efficiencies in closing down some other positions,” he said.
Trustees seemed perplexed. Some said they couldn’t see why the position needed to be created and wanted to see more justification for the post.
They chose not to support creating the job then and don’t appear to have discussed it since. The support services website currently lists no assistant director — or director, for that matter.
According to Villarreal’s complaint, the day after that meeting, Gonzalez sat down with her and Berry to discuss the friction between them. He wanted them to “work it out,” she wrote.
For the next two weeks, Villarreal weighed her options, seeking advice from a labor law attorney.
She says on Nov. 4 Gonzalez stepped into her office, apparently aware that she was considering a written complaint. Villarreal claims Gonzalez asked about an unnamed board trustee requesting Villarreal to complain in writing. She writes that she felt cornered and told him which trustee knew about her situation.
I recently learned that after speaking out about a situation I deemed a problem, the solution was not to remedy the problem, but rather that I be removed from my position.
Villarreal contends Berry was being protected by district leadership and that she was paying the price for speaking out against him.
Board President Tony Forina stayed at a rental condo with Berry, Pena and Villarreal the night before a charity event last year, a situation Villarreal later said she was uncomfortable with.
Villarreal said that she was intimidated by the relationship between the two men, who are friends and former business associates, and contended that the attempt to move her out of the communications department proved she was right to be worried.
“Unfortunately, the last sixty days have shown me a problematic management culture in the district,” she wrote. “I have learned that if you speak out about feeling uncomfortable with managers who are protected by a board member, you will be on the receiving end of consequences.
“I recently learned that after speaking out about a situation I deemed a problem, the solution was not to remedy the problem, but rather that I be removed from my position.”
Trustees have not publicly discussed Gonzalez’s response to the situation.
They did, however, discuss the situation and evaluate him behind closed doors in closed session last month for over two hours, an uncommonly lengthy executive session for the board.
Forina has described his involvement in the whole situation as overblown and politically motivated, and says his relationship with Berry has never impacted decisions as a trustee.
“I have a relationship with Jake, but I have a commitment to the students, the staff, the administrators at McAllen ISD,” he said. “And that’s something as an elected official that I hold very sacred, because I’m not going to let my relationship with one person affect a decision that’s gonna affect thousands.”
Berry, who resigned last month after the discovery of inappropriate material on his district laptop, blames Villarreal for the turmoil his former department has undergone in the past four months.
“That department was my family,” he wrote. “I am deeply saddened that such a high flying department was cut down by one person’s allegations.”
