SISD Superintendent May Be On Her Way Out

By ABC-7 Reporter Darren Hunt

EL PASO, Texas – It looks like the Socorro Independent School District will be shopping for a new superintendent.

Superintendent Sylvia Atkinson denied our request for an interview Monday and members of the SISD Board said they’re not talking until after Tuesday’s special meeting. But the board has put an item on the agenda for that meeting to consider approving a “separation agreement” with Atkinson.

ABC-7 spoke with parents of students in addition to officials at the Socorro Education Association, who had no problem saying they’re glad to see Atkinson go.

“Our school district has been in a state of unrest since Dr. Atkinson came in,” said Glenda Hawthorne, president of the SEA since 2001.

The association represents the nearly 2,000 employees of the district, half of which took part in a recent survey.

“Sixty-six percent of the respondents said the morale was worse than ever in the school district,” Hawthorne said.

SISD disputed those numbers, but they were unable to provide specific numbers by Monday’s deadline.

The Socorro Education Association said a true indication of whether Atkinson should stay or go is the amount of grievances that have been filed — more than 30 of them since her arrival in the district 18 months ago.

“I filed more grievances this year, or since Dr. Atkinson’s arrival, than I ever have filed in the course of a year,” Hawthorne said.

Other issues SEA officials allege have led to Atkinson’s separation agreement include creating positions that didn’t exist before, dealing with people in a less than professional way and not listening to the community.

But others, including parents, were quick to defend Atkinson on the basis of her achievements. Last week, 19 Socorro schools received “recognized” status for their TAKS scores and another four were labeled “exemplary.”

“We’ve never had so many recognized schools in the Socorro district,” said Alice Rosas, whose son attends El Dorado High School. “Never.”

Other parents were upset the board has decided to pay Atkinson what is expected to be a six figure settlement to avoid what they called a personal issue.

“I think that money should go toward the classrooms, the teachers and the needs of the district,” parent Dot Carmona said, “not to pay off a superintendent that is doing her job.”

All of this is taking place less than a month after two new Socorro trustees, who were endorsed by the SEA, were voted onto the board. Both Joe Sarabia and Tony Ayub were vocal opponents of Atkinson’s approach.