When UISD Supt. David H. Gonzalez rallied the crowd of teachers, para-professionals, and administrators at the District’s Aug. 9, 2023 convocation to “make history,” he had no idea that his own personal history was about to become a sordid footnote, not only to his 23-year career as an educator, but also to the history of the the school district itself.
THE SUPERINTENDENT BY DEFAULT
How did the least qualified contender for superintendent make the cut into the field of three for the position, and how did he end up as the sole choice that would be hired on May 12, 2021 by the seven-member UISD Board of Trustees?
The other two contenders, both longtime UISD administrators, were Gloria Rendon and Mike Garza. Rendon had the support of three board members from the northern sector of the district – Aliza Oliveros, Javier Montemayor, and Frank Castillo; and Garza, three from the south – Ricardo Rodriguez, Ramiro Veliz III, and Ricardo Molina.
The seventh trustee, outlier Juan Roberto Ramirez, was a steadfast supporter of David Gonzalez.
Fearing a one-vote flip by Ramirez that could name either Rendon or Garza as the sole finalist, north and south opted to back Gonzalez.
Who deserves responsibility for having not thoroughly vetted the glib, exuberant, affable code-switching, allegedly moral-switching David Gonzalez when he became the only choice for UISD superintendent?
THINGS WERE GOING SWIMMINGLY WELL FOR DAVID H. GONZALEZ, OR SO IT SEEMED, AND THEN THE PHONE RANG APRIL 21, 2021 AT ANA CORDOVA’S DESK AT UNITED SOUTH’S 9TH GRADE CAMPUS
Cordova, a Language Proficiency Assessment Clerk in a paraprofessional capacity, said she has lived with the indignity, loss of self esteem, poor health, and severe depression of there having been no consequence to a 2011 complaint she had made to UISD HR about Gonzalez’s predatory behavior toward her – unwelcome remarks about her person, unwelcome physical contact, and sexual advances –while he was Principal of Washington Middle School.
Twenty days out from Gonzalez being confirmed UISD superintendent, his secretary, Lorena Chavez, called Cordova to say that Gonzalez wanted to talk to her. Chavez put him on the line and Cordova hit the record button on her cell phone, saving for posterity what beyond her expectations was tantamount to Gonzalez’s confession for the substance of the 2011 sexual harassment complaint she had made in 2011 with heightened anxiety and fear of losing her job. Ten years later he was on the line chatting her up in gratuitous smarm, admitting to the pain he had caused her, apologizing, telling her that as superintendent he would protect her, and then asking her to recant the 2011 complaint.
Actually, he dictated the recantation to her as a letter he hoped she would write.
She did not recant.
He became UISD Supt. on May 12, 2021, receiving good marks on an evaluation for 2021 – 2022 and a contract extension to June 30, 2026.
Cordova said she listened to the recorded conversation of Gonzalez numerous times, sharing it with no one until she retained attorney George Altgelt. On August 10, 2023, the day after the rousing 2023-2024 UISD Convocation, he filed for his client a Level I Grievance against Supt. Gonzalez, citing “ongoing and reoccurring sexual harassment and retaliation.” The Grievance alleged violations of Board Policy, Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Attached, too, were a copy of the Charge of Discrimination of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which alleged sexual harassment, sex discrimination, and retaliation.
Also attached was a true and correct copy of the recording of the April 21, 2021 conversation with Gonzalez.
It is reiterated several times in the Independent Hearing Examiner’s (IHE) trial document that the recording was distributed neither by Cordova nor UISD, and that it had been delivered by Altgelt to local and area media.
JAN. 14 – 18, 2024 TRIAL
Javier Gonzalez, an attorney licensed by the State Bar of Texas and a certified Texas Education Agency Independent Hearing Examiner (IHE), presided over the four-day TEA trial that heard testimony over UISD’s proposed termination of Supt. David H. Gonzalez.
The District was represented by attorneys Celina Vinson and Stephanie A. Hamm of Thompson & Horton, LLP of Houston; and respondent Gonzalez by Tomás “Tommy” Ramirez III of the Law Office of Tomás Ramirez III of Devine.
The trial to present evidence and testimony for the “good cause” termination of Supt. Gonzalez presented, too, a drama weighted with the effects that two male UISD administrators in positions of power wreaked on the life of one female UISD paraprofessional brave enough to come forward with a sexual harassment complaint. The trial document is rife with shameful behaviors, cover-ups, and deception, including the tandem self-serving treachery of administrators David H. Gonzalez and former Asst. Supt. of Human Resources David García who covered up each other’s escapades by dismissing sexual harassment complaints against them with conclusions that no such thing occurred or that nothing unlawful had transpired.
It won’t be a surprise that other women who have silently suffered sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination at UISD may yet come forward.
How did Gonzalez have time – as he swung from the rungs of the UISD career ladder from principal to administrator to superintendent – to act in the best interest of the school district while he allegedly Don Juan-ed himself into infamy and destroyed his own career in the process of harming others?
IHE FINDINGS OF FACT 19. – 22.
What happened to the original August 9, 2011 sexual harassment complaint against Gonzalez made by Ana Cordova while she worked at Washington Middle School?
On September 12, 2011, then-UISD’s Associate Superintendent of Human Resources Garcia issued a five-sentence document to Cordova entitled “Investigative Findings,” which stated, that “[a] thorough investigation of the allegations was conducted and based on the information I obtained, there is no evidence to corroborate the allegations you reported.”
Garcia then prepared a “Letter of Conference” dated September 16, 2011, which among other things, admonished Ana Cordova for “bec[oming] upset and question[ing] the integrity of the investigation.” The Letter of Conference included several other allegations against Cordova.
She testified at the recent four-day IHE hearing that the statements in the Letter of Conference were untrue and that she had never seen the document before her TEA deposition in 2023. Documentation produced by the District in rebuttal confirmed that Ms. Cordova did not receive the copy of the Letter of Conference in 2011, as mailing was “returned to sender” and deposited in her HR file. This corroborated her testimony that she had not seen the letter. The file with her complaint contained that letter, but no formal investigative report documents that proved that an investigation had been conducted.
In the realm of “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,” García himself was named in an anonymous Oct. 21, 2021 complaint alleging sexual harassment, hostile work environment, abuse of authority, retaliation, inappropriate work comments, inappropriate advances, and inappropriate physical contact against a female employee of UISD.
IHE FINDINGS OF FACT 27.
Supt. David Gonzalez came to García’s rescue with a January 21, 2022 outcome letter to García that stated that an investigation found that the allegations against him did not have “legal merit” and did not rise to the level of “unlawful conduct.” In the realm of “pot sort of calling kettle black,” Gonzalez directed HR’s García, to attend communication training, sexual harassment training “with a focus on refraining from making off-hand comments, colorful jokes, colorful stories, compliments that may be misconstrued by female employees, or insensitive remarks to employees.”
Gonzalez further directed García to “conduct yourself in a professional manner, including by recognizing and respecting the rights of other employees, and to treat all employment with the same level of response, dignity, and respect.”
IHE FINDINGS OF FACT 28.
Gonzalez would later testify to the IHE that he had no knowledge of the allegations against García, which the examiner found “questionable” and “lacked credibility in light of Gonzalez’s direct involvement in the complaints that led to García’s departure from the District and lends credence to the claims that García and Gonzalez were friends and that García did not adequately and/or appropriately investigate Ana Cordova’s 2011 sexual harassment claims against Gonzalez. It also draws a reasonable inference that the investigations of each other lack objectivity and the conclusions of each were wrong.”
IHE FINDINGS OF FACT 44. – 46.
Gonzalez used his position as lone finalist for superintendent to offer Cordova protection and preferential treatment, in exchange for her agreement to recant her 2011 sexual harassment complaint allegations.
DAVID GONZALEZ’S APOLOGY, CONFESSION, OFFER OF PROTECTION, AND REQUEST FOR CORDOVA TO RECANT 2011 SEXUAL HARASSMENT COMPLAINT, RECORDED APRIL 21, 2021:
“Okay look. And I told you, look. Within this . . . now there’s twenty (20) days, where they can ask for open records on somebody, and they may. And if it’s mentioned, that stuff is gonna come out, so your name is gonna be on there and mine is gonna be on there. In the event, and I’m not telling you to do it, Ana. I don’t want you to think that I’m telling you to do this, I’m telling you what options you could do. If you’d write something saying that you did it because you’re upset at me and I was making you resign or whatever, uh, that would pretty much set the case. And they’d say, ‘you know what, then there was no such harassment.’
“And I guarantee you right now, look who’s calling right now on the phone. Here…. . here we’re looking at a congressman. As the next superintendent, in my position right now, I’m the incoming one, I will tell [unintelligible] Santos, uh, We need to close this case and move on, and I don’t want . . . we’re not gonna touch Ana Cordova. And I’ll also . . . I’ll tell Santos, ‘You do something, it’s going to be a mess and then you’re gonna have a bigger . . bigger problem on your hands.’ So, I’m gonna protect you, Ana. I promise you, I give you my word as uh, as your friend.
“Uh, uh, I will tell you Ana, if you have a problem, you call me and I will take care of it. And if you gotta get moved somewhere else, if there’s any opening, I give you my word and as a man, I will do that for you, because you doing this will avoid an embarrassment for both of us.
“So, if you’re gonna do that, you tell me. Call me tomorrow or whatever. Get with Lorena [Chavez] and I’ll take care of it, and what I’ll do first is I will call Mr. Santos, I’ll go, ‘Look, this lady reached out to me, they’re willing to do it, but she’s only gonna do it if we’re not gonna touch her. I’ll say, ‘Leave her alone.’ She tells me that, and I’ll take care of it. But I promise you, Ana, they’re not going to do anything to you, cause I will not allow it.
“Well Ana, there . . . I mean, I’m suggesting you write something like, ‘Back in 2011, I made an accu . . . I made an accusation against David Gonzalez, Principal of Washington Middle School for sexual harassment, uh, this is to make it . . . make it very clear that at no time he ever did that. I did it . . . I was upset because this happened. I apologized to him, uh, I. . . I don’t wanna cause any problems right now with his future. I understand he’s [unintelligible] for superintendent.’ . . . Just keep it real simple, don’t make it long.
“But you don’t have to . . . but you don’t even have to put that last part. Just put, you know, uh, ‘I . . . I . . . . eh, eh . . . it was done outta . . I was emotional, that was the decision, and it was not done uh, to hurt him in any way or whatever.’ Just put . . . just very simple. But see, what . . . what HR will look at is, these are the accusations, even though this should have no finding, now she’s saying she didn’t, we’re gonna close the case. And that’s it, it’s over.”
After a gratuitous apology to Cordova for any pain he caused her in the past, Gonzalez said, “I’m gonna tell you again what I told you yesterday. Whatever pain I caused you, whatever problem . . . because I was also a jerk and an idiot, because I am, and there’s no excuse, there’s no excuse, Ana. I apologize to you as a man. I even went to confession with the priest and everything, I mean, I had to.
“Uh, when I went for the interview, my final last interview on Monday, uh, I went to confession first. And I told the priest, but . . . I said ‘I commit adultery every day.’ The priest said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘Well Sir, the bible says that when you think of it’ . . . and he started laughing. The priest was like . .[unintelligible] But the bible says, and then you think about it, you’re sinning.
“I’m being very sincere. I’ll repeat this to you, I am sorry for whatever pain I caused you or whatever. I don’t know what’s going on at your campus, but if you’re having issues, in my position Ana, you do this for me and for yourself too, cause you’re protecting your name also.”
When Cordova asked Gonzalez if recanting her prior complaint would harm her or her employment, he assured her: “I will make sure that it won’t. I’ll make sure that it won’t. Okay? And if it is, like I told you, Ana if I. . . if I find out that it is, then I’m gonna tell you not to do it, okay? Because I’m not going to hurt you, either. I’ve done enough hurting to you already, okay?
Ana Cordova did not recant her 2011 complaint. To have done so, she testified, “would not have been accurate to say that the harassment never happened.”
IHE PAGE 40.
“The recorded telephone conversation would be his (Gonzalez’s) undoing and unravel serious matters from his past that in light of further unraveling call into serious question the objectivity and merits of disposition of the prior complaints.
“Essentially, [Gonzalez’s] position is he had nothing to disclose to the Board as the matters had found no wrongdoing and the latest (2023) complaint was a ‘new and improved’ reinvention of the Cordova 2011 complaint.
“The problem with Respondent’s position is the recorded conversation lends credence to the Cordova allegations made in 2011. Further, evidence from the hearing calls into serious question the objectivity and impartiality of the investigator.”
IHE PAGE 42.
“Mr. Gonzalez was asked if the recording was of him and of making or stating the things in the telephone conversation with Cordova on April 21, 2021. This was within the twenty (20) day window of being named the District Superintendent. The reasonable expectation would be one would remember such a striking memory where the call is asking the other person on the call to do things or ‘coach them’ to revise facts from a previous complaint; making apologetic admissions; or agreeing to ‘protect them’ in exchange. One would expect an unequivocal ‘no, that is not me’ and/or ‘no I never said those things.’ Instead, the furthest to the events that Wednesday in April Respondent would admit to was he took a call, it sounded like him, and he did not recall making those statements.”
The IHE report continued, “He also admitted the [Cordova] recording coming out caused a spectacle for the District and caused angst for a starting school year.
ONE DAMNING TELEPHONE CONVERSATION
IHE PAGE 40.
This notation informs, “This case comes down to the lack of disclosures, engagement of questionable conduct, and one damning telephone conversation.”
PRIOR COMPLAINTS
B. 2017 HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT COMPLAINTS AGAINST RESPONDENT GONZALEZ
IHE FINDINGS OF FACT 29.
The IHE’s finding that the disposition of Cordova’s 2011 complaint “called into serious questions the validity and genuine substance” of other complaints, among them the one educational diagnostician Rosalinda Perez filed on April 29, 2017 alleging that Gonzalez, (who at that time was the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction) was having multiple affairs with his subordinates, including Linda (Perez) Garza (Linda Garza), a Licensed Specialist in School Psychology. Perez’s complaint alleged that Gonzalez was giving these subordinates preferential treatment and was creating a hostile work environment.
IHE FINDINGS OF FACT 30.
A few days later, another educational diagnostician named Laura Regalado filed a similar complaint regarding Gonzalez and Linda Garza. The complaints were investigated by the outside law firm, Walsh, Gallegos, Treviño, Russo, & Kyle, P.C.
IHE FINDINGS OF FACT 32.
During the investigation, Gonzalez denied the allegations against him, and referred to them as “defamation” and “slanderous.” Additionally, he did not disclose any information suggesting that he had an inappropriate relationship, whether via email or otherwise, with Linda Garza or anyone else.
IHE FINDINGS OF FACT 33.
Linda Garza denied that Respondent had behaved inappropriately with her and denied any inappropriate relationship or affair with Respondent. She then filed an internal grievance against Rosalinda Perez, in which she referred to the allegations as “false” and “harmful to my professional integrity and reputation.”
IHE FINDINGS OF FACT 34.
The investigation report referenced and attached a copy of Ana Cordova’s 2011 sexual harassment complaint against Gonzalez as well as the complaint filed by Laura Regalado, but the investigation did not substantiate Ms. Perez’s allegations.
IHE FINDINGS OF FACT 35.
The investigation report noted that “no one corroborated” the allegations that Gonzalez was having an affair, and that “no person reported any inappropriate relationship or conversations by Mr. Gonzalez.”
JUNE 29, 2023: SUPT. GONZALEZ RECOMMENDS LINDA GARZA AS LEAD SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST WITH $25,000 PAY BUMP; THEY WROTE THE JOB DESCRIPTION AND DUTIES
IHE FINDINGS OF FACT – E. LINDA GARZA’S PROMOTION TO LEAD SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST 54. TO 69.
At the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, UISD employee Linda Garza was promoted to the newly created position of Lead School Psychologist, which increased her salary annually by about $25,000.
Associate Superintendent of Human Resources David Canales testified that the process leading up to Linda Garza’s promotion was not the District’s normal process. Mike Garza, Associate Superintendent for Administration Operations, similarly testified that the process was “highly unusual.” Both testified that it is the District’s normal practice for the job description to be drafted by the person with immediate supervisory authority over the position. That person would have been Mike Garza.
Linda Garza and Supt. Gonzalez drafted the job description, including the required qualifications and job duties. Linda Garza submitted the job description to Mike Garza and David Canales and copied Supt. Gonzalez on June 13, 2023.
Asked if it was his testimony that it was already a foregone conclusion, even though the job hadn’t been created, hadn’t been posted yet, that [Linda Garza] was going to be the successful candidate, Mike Garza answered, “It’s clear. It was clear, yes, ma’am.”
On June 27, 2023 Linda Garza was the only applicant for the position.
At a duly called special board meeting on June 29, 2023 Supt. Gonzalez recommended Linda Garza’s appointment as Lead School Psychologist, failing to disclose to the Board or anyone else that he had any potential conflict of interest with Linda Garza, failing to inform the Board, too, that the recommendation he took to the Board for the new Lead School Psychologist position was a full pay grade higher than what a Texas Association of School Board (TASB) consultant recommended.
DISCUSSION PAGE 38.
“While to date the evidence at the hearing proved a non-sexual improper email and personal relationship between Gonzalez and Linda Garza, it revealed again the exercise of poor judgment by Gonzalez and his lack of good faith disclosure or abstention on hiring and salary of Garza as a Lead School Psychologist under Safety and Crisis Management for the District.”
The IHE found that Gonzalez’s claim that he was not directly involved in Linda Garza’s promotion lacked credibility.
G. DISCOVERY OF FURTHER INAPPROPRIATE CONDUCT 101. – 102.
The District’s review of Respondent Gonzalez’s District email account revealed numerous communications of a romantic nature between Gonzalez and Linda Garza during the 2015-2016 timeframe. For example, Respondent and Linda Garza exchanged numerous YouTube links to love songs, including “Let’s Make Love,” “I Wanna Grow Old with You,” “Beautiful Girl,” “I Only Have Eyes for You,” and “We Belong Together.”
Respondent and his counsel described Gonzalez’s relationship with Linda Garza during this time frame as a “lovey-dovey email relationship,” and described the emails as stupid and inappropriate, but simultaneously claimed that he was “not guilty of having an improper relationship with this individual.”
He also admitted the need to have good character in comporting as a Superintendent and to work with the Board; and to improprieties; and hypothetically, if the allegations essentially were true would they be improper, to which Respondent and his experts agreed and/or conceded.”
Respondent further admitted the 2015-2017 work emails with Linda Garza were poor judgment and/or improper.
•••
The moving parts of this painful and disastrous imbroglio are inarguably rooted in the character of David Gonzalez, but they are, too, a reflection of the character of the Board of Trustees that did not vet him thoroughly enough to see (or looked away from) the bulk of personal and professional baggage he carried.
What ails, and often determines Laredo and Webb County elections is dismally low voter turnout, uninformed and un-articulate candidates guided by politics and not principle, and the work of cañonero vote harvesters who can deftly cancel a vote for the candidate believed most capable to serve as a school trustee.
The 53-pages of the Independent Hearing trial’s findings and recommendations resonate with the eloquent language of the law, even as they chronicle the unsavory disarray of cover-ups; lapses of character; the finding that a UISD Human Resources administrator claimed to have investigated complaints for sexual harassment, but did not; a soon-to-be superintendent Gonzalez who in a recorded telephone exchange in 2021 with UISD paraprofessional Ana Cordova offered, unwittingly, a confession for sexual harassment and offered her protection in return for recanting her 2011 complaint against him; failures to disclose information; denials; the failure of the superintendent to maintain a professional relationship with the board of trustees; the use of professional privileges for personal gain; false statements and misrepresentation and omissions of material information requested by the Board of Trustees in connection with Gonzalez’s application for superintendent; Gonzalez’s failure to comply with the Educator’s Code of Ethics; past misconduct; and lack of prudence.
That litany of unprofessional behaviors and poor comportment bore a high cost for the woman who came forward with a complaint of sexual harassment and perhaps for those who have remained silent out of fear of job loss and/or retaliation.
It bore a monetary cost, too, for the taxpayers who paid Supt. Gonzalez handsomely for the spectacle he engendered and that cost him his own credibility and career.
The UISD Board of Trustees, no matter their many statements in the trial record of incredulous shock and disappointment, have in some measure lost the public trust. They hired David Gonzalez. How could they have been oblivious over the period of his tenure of so vast a list of his shortcomings and lack of regard for TEA standards for ethics and performance, especially when it was known and discussed among administrators and staff.
May this board find the acumen, intuition, will, and focus to pull itself and the District from this train wreck. May it, too, implement measures to let paraprofessional staff know of their value to the District and that they have the right to speak up without fear of job loss or retaliation
——————————————————————————————————–
SIDEBAR
ANA CORDOVA
Cordova, who has been on administrative leave with pay since Dec. 14, 2023, refers to David Gonzalez as “a monster.”
“There are other women who have been hurt by him, but are afraid to speak up because they might lose their jobs. When you are the one speaking up, people are afraid to stand with you. You become isolated.
“None of that has been easy. My health has deteriorated. Anxiety, stress, and depression make you physically sick. I have insomnia. My diabetes and blood pressure numbers are high.
“David Gonzalez wanted me to take back the 2011 complaint because ‘my name would be out there.’ He was trying to make me afraid and ashamed, as though I had done something wrong. I was the victim. I am not ashamed. UISD failed me. If what happened to me helps another female employee at UISD keep her health, her job, and her dignity, and if UISD can have HR personnel that truly investigates sexual harassment complaints instead of covering up the mess of the harasser, the work environment in the District could change.
“Paraprofessionals at UISD are los pisoteados (the trampled), replaceable, like they have less value and less rights than the administrators.”
GEORGE ALTGELT
“Lawyers and lawyering are nothing without the bravery of courageous clients like Ana Cordova. What was so Earth-moving about her case was watching her face her tormentor in both a deposition and in the trial, and with the utmost poise, grace, and above all – truthfulness, take the energy of his lawyer’s cross-examination and shove their false words back down their throats,” Altgelt said of the proceedings, which he called “airtight.”
“Ms. Cordova stood up for the UISD employees that were too scared to come forward – she is a hero worthy of our respect.
“Ms. Cordova’s Level I Grievance was put on hold during the pendency of the independent hearing and trial. I will continue to protect and exhaust all of her rights before the board to show the suffering, both emotional and physical, that she endured not only at the whim of David Gonzalez but also at the hands of HR’s David García who did not initiate an investigation into her 2011 complaint.
“Hopefully the Board won’t replace one tyrannical superintendent with another. They should go out for a statewide search and not hire some other local.”
-MEG
CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE UNITED INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT vs. DAVID GONZALEZ
PAGES 30 T0 37 – GROUNDS FOR RESPONDENT’S PROPOSED TERMINATION
PAGES 39 TO 51 – WHETHER GOOD CAUSE EXISTS TO DISCHARGE RESPONDENT EMPLOYED UNDER A TERM CONTRACT
“Great article from someone who wasn’t at the hearing. However, it overlooked mentioning or exposing instances of corruption among the board of trustees, such as numerous text messages revealing demands for salary increases, the creation of new positions, and staff transfers.”
Te aventaste, MEG.
This was so poorly written that the inventor of journalism should come back to life and smack the author right across the face.