Socorro ISD and Canutillo ISD boards trade jabs

Two school districts in El Paso are taking jabs at one another and we have video to prove it.

Canutillo ISD and Socorro ISD are gearing up for Thursday’s flag football game and are having fun trash talking one another.

Socorro’s board fired the first salvo with a video posted days ago.

Trustee Paul Guerra refers to the Canutillo High School football field as “Mushroom Village,” making reference to the school’s blue turf.

“I sure hope that vanity Smurf, aka Mando, plays this year.” “Mando” is the nickname for Canutillo trustee Armando Rodriguez.

“I never heard if they got my $5 for their mural,” quips Socorro Trustee Tony Ayoub, alluding to a fundraising campaign to paint a controversial flag on a new elementary school.

“Hey, I’m sure they got it,” responds his colleague Michael Najera. “But who’s to say it didn’t go to their travel fund instead?!” Laughter form the entire board follows.

The Socorro jab was inspired by harsh criticism received by the Canutillo board after it gave itself a 75 percent increase in travel budget. As ABC-7 reported in April, the district already had the highest travel budget of all school districts in the area, by far. The increase took the budget to $57,800. The board at that time defended the expenditure by saying it was an investment in training.

The Canutillo board members would not leave the punch unanswered. On a rough draThey came back with a Taco Dog slam.

“Hey, Mary, what are you trying out for lunch today?” asks Canutillo Trustee Stephanie Frietze to fellow trustee Mary Yglesias on the Canutillo-produced video.

“Not a Taco Dog, that’s for sure,” chuckles Yglesias.

The now infamous Taco Dog was a lunch menu item offered at Socorro Middle School last fall. A picture of the hot dog weenie alone inside a crunchy taco shell went viral. The district pulled the item after much public scourging.

The flag football game is for more than bragging rights, though. It helps students in need.

This year both school districts collected school supplies that will be donated to Canutillo students. Last year’s donations, which were shoes, went toward Socorro’s kids.

No word yet on starting lineups, but deflated balls and rigged score-keeping are part of the spoof videos.

Kickoff is Thursday at 5 p.m. at Canutillo.