Cardenas’s Concerns About CASE Ignored

Trustee Karla Cardenas voiced concerns last night about the make up of the new attendance boundary committee the SAISD Administration is the in the process of forming.

The official name of the committee is “Committee on Academics, Stewardship and Efficiency” or CASE for short.

Superintendent’s Update on CASE

Dr. Christopher Moran reported that administration was compiling a list of community members to invite to be a part of the committee.

The District plans to have 1 representative for every 100 students at a campus. For example, if a school has three hundred students that school would have three representatives on the committee.

The committee will meet six times during the Spring. The goal is for the committee’s recommendation for new attendance boundaries for the twelve elementary schools the District to be presented to the Board by June or July 2026.

Once adopted the new boundaries will go into effect with the start of the 2027-2028 school year.

A list of names was provided to the Trustees ahead of the committee for comments but was not available to the public or media to review.

Cardenas Concerned About Hispanic Representation

Trustee Karla Cardenas raised concerns about the list as not having sufficient Hispanic representation. This is of particular concern considering that 62% of SAISD ‘s students are Hispanic.

She also noted that the names on the list were the same people who always serve on District Committees. Cardenas said she would like to see new and different names on the list. Too many of them are large donors and booster club members.

Trustee Pam Duncan suggested Cardenas submit names to the Superintendent. Dr. Moran said any names that the Board wanted included should be sent to him.

But they missed Cardenas’s point and did not respond or address the issue she raised. That District Committees should be more representative of the community of students they serve.

The Board failed to address or respond to her concerns. No explanation of the process of how the names on the list provided to the Board were selected was presented either.