Allen-

You are being very dismissive of taxpayers' complaints about Pcard expenditures. IF we ever see an audit, we will find out how much money will have to be repaid by taxpayers to cover the audacious behavior of people like Castro. There are guidelines for Title I and TEA guidelines for spending taxpayers' monies. It is very apparent from looking at those who even bothered with keeping receipts that there were policies broken, and Castro, as an example, violated spending policies. This money will be repaid out of our collective pockets, and it had no impact on his career. The man was promoted annually for several years with no classroom experience at the secondary level, and about three years experience at the elementary.

To get the full impact, go to the DISD web site and look for yourself at the comments on the depositions. Even though Coggins's office was not as familiar with federal and state guidelines as someone who works full-time with grant monies, what they did uncover would have been reasons for termination in a district who top administrators had ANY integrity. Instead, Hinojosa chose to ignore this very egregious behavior unless the person in question admitted criminal conduct or just chose to resign.

There is no way Castro had the time to develop instructional or managerial competence in the time he was garnering yearly promotions into schools where he had no background. Aside from that, the Pcard expenditures should have been grounds for termination. What kind of administrator can you expect with the Pcard record he left???

[Ed Note: I'll say it again. I have a problem with the P-Card investigation. I have a problem with how it was conducted, and how much we spent on it. I have a problem scapegoating a lower level administrator.

I think you'll see the audit, and I think you'll see it before the bond election or we'll point out how it is being restricted and delayed--and I bet you the Dallas Morning News will too.]