SAN ANTONIO – The Northside Independent School District has no policy in place for its board to publicly reprimand a fellow trustee accused of improper behavior, KSAT Investigates has confirmed.
The revelation from officials from NISD, San Antonio’s largest school district, comes amid a continued public backlash against District 3 Trustee Dr. Karla Duran, who has remained on the board despite her Sept. 3 arrest on suspicion of DWI.
Duran, who was elected to the board earlier this year, was pulled over around 1 a.m. after a San Antonio police officer spotted her vehicle repeatedly driving on the shoulder of Interstate 10, at one point nearly striking a concrete barrier, a warrant for blood draw states.
Since Duran’s arrest, community members have repeatedly shown up at NISD meetings, often with Duran sitting on the dais, and blasted trustees for failing to censure her or to ask for her resignation.
During a tense Sept. 11 meeting, Board President Robert Blount, Jr. said the elected body had met to determine the scope of what action it could take.
Multiple speakers slammed the district for removing a citizens-to-be-heard item from the agenda after previously including it. Blount told the crowd it was taken out after a further review of how to properly hold the meeting.
Blount at one point threatened to have a person removed from the meeting.
“Do not, do not. I’m not going to go back and forth with you, okay,” said Blount, before adding that if the conduct continued he would ask the person to leave.
The person was off camera and it is not clear what he or she said to Blount to spark the disagreement.
“A very poor display, a very poor example for the students in our district, especially for those in high schools who are driving,” one speaker told the board regarding Duran’s arrest.
“Hypothetically, if somebody were to be drinking and driving and they’re supposed to be a representation of our community, of our school children, and you’re going to let them continue on as a member of the board, it’s disgraceful and you need to think about that,” said a second speaker, before the audience broke out in applause.
The board went into executive session and emerged without taking action. Blount told the meeting attendees the board had consulted with its legal counsel and determined it did not have the power to remove Duran.
Two weeks later, on Sept. 26, community members again showed up to the board meeting and lashed out at Duran and her fellow trustees.
“And for you to be sitting there like you’ve done nothing wrong, like this is okay, it’s unconscionable. You should be ashamed, There’s no shame in your face,” a woman told Duran. The speaker identified herself as a member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving whose teenage sister had been struck by a drunk driver.
“We have a board member on this board that unfortunately has brought shame on us. It’s brought embarrassment,” Jesse R. Cardenas told the board.
Cardenas, in a follow-up interview with KSAT, expanded on his board meeting comments.
“Traditionally, the board members have all been just stellar individuals. That’s alarming. That’s alarming that in some capacity that a board member that has taken this action of getting a DWI, of doing things that are not the example that we want to set for our children,” Cardenas told KSAT.
NISD has trustee removal policy
Censure, also known as a public reprimand, is occasionally used by San Antonio school district boards in response to inappropriate actions by its members.
But a spokesman last month confirmed NISD has no local policy for censure of a board member.
This district, however, does have a process for the removal of a board member.
Any resident can file a petition for removal in a district court of the county where the trustee resides, as long as the filer has lived in the county where the petition is filed for the past six months and is not under indictment.
Intoxication is one of the reasons for removal listed in NISD’s policy.
The policy contains the unusual wording that a trustee cannot be expelled for intoxication “if it was caused by drinking an alcoholic beverage on the direction and prescription of a licensed physician.”
Duran declined a request from KSAT to be interviewed for this story.
She instead referred KSAT to a previous written statement in which she apologized for the disruption her arrest caused and said she was “fully committed to continuing to serve the students, parents, staff, and the community of Northside ISD.”
Duran is free on bond awaiting trial in her case. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 7.
Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales recused his office from prosecuting Duran’s case, meaning it will be handled by a special prosecutor.