EPISD superintendent confronted by a parent at Austin High

It was new El Paso Independent School District Superintendent Juan Cabrera’s last town hall at Austin High Wednesday night. What they thought would be a fun meet-and-greet was a little more complicated than they anticipated.

Austin High students and parents gathered to meet their new superintendent and ask him questions first-hand. The questions were pre-selected, and came with a warning, from Board of Managers President Dee Margo. Margo told the crowd they would not accept, or answer any questions about their former Principal Dr. John Tanner.

This was not what Austin High’s auditorium was expecting, especially after many students, parents and even teachers vigorously fought for their beloved principal when he was first put on leave in April.

Tanner was named in a district audit, and accused of violating the way students were able to obtain credit. But he was reinstated within days.

Yet just a few months later, the district put him on leave again, and because it’s a personnel matter, they can’t explain why.

“There’s no words to explain how awesome of a principal he is,” student Manuel Tena said.”We just want docotr tanner. Everything was so good when he was here. But since he left it’s been awkward. Personally I don’t know why he’s gone.”

It’s was that burning question, that wouldn’t be answered.But one that wouldn’t rest. Parent of two Austin students Maria Dolores Salomon Tapia confronted Cabrera, but got no where.

“So you see there is no such thing as transparency,”Tapia said. “There is no transparency. You know, they forget that I’m a taxpayer. And it bothers me that Mr. Almozon thinks that he can quiet down a taxpayer. They all forget that we’re all taxpayers. Our money is just as good as the West side.”

Sitting quietly in the audience was Austin High’s Trustee Susie Byrd, who may not have the authority to do anything, but listen.

“I get concerned when you feel that the hopes and dreams of a school are all in one person,” Byrd said. “They shouldn’t be. They should be embedded with the teachers and the staff and the students and with the administration. So really what I would like to hear from the district is how they mean to move forward and certainly fill a big void that the campus feels.”

And Cabrera agrees.

“We want to quickly finish the administrative appeal and investigation with Dr. Tanner, because we understand that the community wants to have some finality, some permanent leadership,” Cabrera said. “We want that as well. There is no benefit to us to have a school that’s unhappy, the community is unhappy. So we’re working as fast as we can within the scope of privacy and personnel issues and confidentiality. We’re working as quickly as we can to sort it out and have him back or whatever the alternative is that comes out of the investigation.”