Montenegro removed from Arlington post; placed on leave

An interim superintendent has been appointed by the Arlington Independent School District amid an investigation into whether Arlington school Superintendent Hector Montenegro's acceptance of honoraria may have ...

[Guy]

Question for the YISD board: Did you really think that by writing a glowing reference to the AISD for Montenegro, it would get him out of your hair and make him someone else's problem?
You were right, it worked, geez thanks a lot.
Can we send him back now? We'll gladly pay his travel expense's....

[GentleCynic]

Still scratching my head wondering how Arlington ISD could have hired him. Didn't they go to El Paso and have a special board meeting to check him out? How embarrassing.

[InterestedObserv er]

Poor Monte. His lack of integrity, not to mention his complete disregard for state and federal law, has caught up with him. However much you already regret your decision to take him off YISD's hands, Arlington,(thanks, by the way!), take heart: your decision to put him on leave is a positive step to ensuring he never gets another superintendency. Our students and our communities deserve better! Keep digging, AISD, and see what you find! You, too, YISD! It's the least you owe the YISD taxpayers for having hired him in the first place.

[Jorge Weis]

Full "Monte": he is exposed now. AISD trustees are not messing around, while YISD school board is a totally a.s.s-kissing, "YES" men and women.

[Jorge Weis]

Advice to AISD trustees: come to El Paso and talk to those who worked with him and it will beg the question: why didn't we do so before hiring him?

[Joe]

Hope this doesn't mean he will be a super at another school district, or a principal, or security chief...where could he go from here? You would think his bridges are now burnt.

[Sharon]

Some Latinos and African Americans in the AISD community are claiming the Monte investigation is ethnically motivated. For all of us dealt with him in EP, we know that regardless of who he's dealing with, whether the taxpayers are white, brown, black or something else, he is equally comfortable misusing funds. Beware to those coming to Monte's defense: when even more "misdealings" are uncovered, where will you be? Still standing with him? Stand with the students of AISD instead. They're the ones who are worthy of your time and energy. Monte went down the wrong road long ago, and now it is all catching up with him.

Check out the story in the Dallas paper. Many fun comments being posted there, too:

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/766766...

[Alicia]

The EP Times should look into the issue of the house that YISD bought for Montenegro, a ridiculous provision in his contract that gave him all kinds of allowances, including one for maintenance, decorations, etc. How many YISD families are living below the poverty line and there was Monte decorating his house on the taxpayer's dime. Has YISD been able to resell the property? What's more important, though, than the specific Monte issue is the issue of school board accountability. In selecting the new superintendent and negotiating his or her contract, the board needs to be smarter this time. Our community cannot afford to continue making such idiotic decisions. Pick someone who cares about our students and will establish roots in our community. Here's a novel idea? We should make them buy their own house!

[Jorge Weis]

Now the question is: How to hold the school board of YISD accountable for not holding Monte accountable?

[dimeadozen]

Montenegro isn't even breaking a sweat. He knows he will be compen$ated well regardless of the outcome of all this drama. Plus, he will be rehired somewhere by yet another board that is so busy covering their own self interests that they are too busy to put students' interests first. (YISD board doesn't hold a monopoly on this practice.)

[GentleCynic]

In far west San Antonio, the language is colorful, and it has so many wonderful and beautiful ways of expressing human thought. In far west San Antonio, we have a word that describs Hector Montenegro, and that word is "Shicken Chit"!

[gabriel]

Jorge Weis wrote:

Now the question is: How to hold the school board of YISD accountable for not holding Monte accountable?

AGREE! What the "HEC" tor! THERE IT IS MONTENEGRO TRIED TO TAKE HIS CROOKED TACTICS TO AISD AND HE GOT HAMMERED!LOL! EP OPEN YOUR EYES TO ALOT OF OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS,THEY ARE PROFITING BIG $$ WHILE TAKING EP RESIDENTS TO THE BANK. GO TO ARLINGTON AND GET SOME POINTERS ASAP!!!! GOOD JOB AISD!

FRUSTRATED EP RESIDENT.....

[Doug]

Bet old Monte wishes he was back in El Paso where small corruption is eclipsed by big corrusption.

[KCh69]

These guys land on their feet, like a cat. It's the same way in NM, look at Las CRuces and the Jessie Gonzalez screwing, that the tax paers got.

[Save my country]

Big Daddy wrote:

What a bad person he is, to take advantage of tax payers money, then sit there and say he used poor judgment, he should be charged with a crime and sent to jail for being such a jerk! I cant believe he did not get fired. How can he manage a district he if can not manage himself.

He used poor judgement....that is the REASON he did wrong not some kind of EXCUSE. I hope they don't go easy on this jerk.

[Save my country]

Heres another thought. He has admitted to having poor judgment... His job requires someone with good judgement... So for that reason alone, he should be fired!

[Mission Arl is Wonderful]

Mission Arlington wrote:

PLEASE DO NOT SUPPORT MISSION ARLINGTON. They supply food and clothing to illegal immigrants that live in Arlington. This practice is sooooo wrong for sooooo many reasons.
PLEASE STOP ALL DONATIONS TO MISSION ARLINGTON.

Mission Arlington is a wonderful organization who helps CHILDREN who have no say in where they live or their living conditions. If you don't help the illegal parents of these children, the children suffer.
One of these days you may be down on your luck and Mission Arlington will give you any help you need regardless of whether you are pink or green or black or white or hispanic. The wonderful people at Mission Arlington don't see race, they only see people in need.
Mission Arlington has nothing to do with this Montenegro issue. What are you trying to get at?

[so be it]

How did he take all that paid "comp time leave from YISD" when others as teachers can't?

[so be it]

As for "Mission Arl is Wonderful" it is true the children have no say but the parents do. Why are they here in the first place as illegals and how about the country they are from helping pay any expenses. El Paso county govt complains about 7 law enforcement pers., treated at hospital and allowed to legally enter U.S.as required by law. Why no complaining about hundreds of other illegals treated and who remain anonymous at hospital. How about listing all unpaid bills and names and addresses of same?

[Arnoldo]

I wonder if the YISD will investigate the rumored kickbacks Monte received for the purchase of all the laptops he pushed the district into buying from Dell and Apple. These were shoved down the teacher's throats(who did not want or need them). His old buddy worked for Dell and when the buddy moved to Apple, we had to lease more from him. How did the YISD board approve this purchase(at Monte's urging) without talking to teachers. We even had to sign a personal responsibility agreement in the event they were stolen or lost.