Online petition calls for suspension of CISD Superintendent, alleges he illegally purchased property

EDITOR’S NOTE - The original version of this story incorrectly stated the lot was 6 acres. It is actually 57. Original story is as follows below.

CANUTILLO, Texas (KVIA) -- An online petition is calling for Canutillo Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Pedro Galaviz's suspension, after taxpayers and one board trustee say he bought property without board approval.

The land is located at 6201 Strahan Road, which is the Johnny Bean Horse Farm. It's straddled by Strahan Road to the east, Upper Valley Road to the west, and Artcraft Road to the north.

District plans show it would be the site of the new Canutillo Middle School.

The funds come from the Canutillo ISD Bond, which voters passed in May.

The petition alleges Galaviz spent more than $6 million to buy the farm without board oversight, and adds the public had little to no say in the plan.

According to the deed found in public records, it was bought November 6th.

Canutillo business owners and taxpayers Jami and Chris Stewart, are the ones who created the petition to suspend Galaviz. It currently has more than 200 signatures.

Stuart says the district didn’t give them opportunities to voice their concerns with the proposed location for the new Canutillo Middle School.

They own property that borders the 57 acre lot.

"Why weren't we allowed to go protest or anything? I didn't want the Johnny Bean Horse Farm to be turned into a school," he said.

Stewart says the narrowness of Strahan Road would lead to "horrible traffic congestion" if a school was to be built there.

Canutillo ISD spokesman Gustavo Reveles says the Stewarts’ statements about a lack of public input are false.

He provided ABC-7 presentations from various district meetings held in October.

An October report from consultants Procedeo, posted on the bond's website, shows the property was in escrow at that time.

He also said the public was invited to "design" meetings, and showed us notices sent via email to residents in the district.

However, no mention of the Johnny Bean Farm is shown anywhere in these notices, nor on notices posted to social media.

Reveles doubled down when we asked him about this, saying "if you were a community member you could have learned at any of the meetings we’ve shared with you. Additionally you could have attended a Canutillo Bond Advisory Committee meeting." 

The purchase also caught Canutillo ISD trustee Breanne Barnes by surprise.

She disclosed to ABC-7 that she's an employee of Chris and Jami Stewart.

In a statement where she explicitly states she’s speaking on her behalf and not for other board members, she told ABC-7 "As a trustee of CISD, I am only speaking on my behalf, and not the board as a whole."

She adds "when I became aware of the land acquisition from various community members, I was in shock because the final approval was never voted on by the board. It is completely unacceptable that our superintendent, board president, legal counsel, and bond management team did not follow the legal procedures before spending millions of tax payer dollars."

The statement continues "I feel like now we are going to be strong-armed into voting yes for the ratification regardless of if we want the property or not. We are paying Procedeo Group $12M to be our bond management team to make sure that the whole process is completed ethically and transparently. This land acquisition is the exact opposite of that," said the statement.

In emails Barnes shared with ABC-7, she asked Superintendent Galaviz on December 2nd if they had purchased the land.

"It didn’t have to come before the board to vote for final approval of cost and such?" she asks in the email to Galaviz.

"No," he replies. "Board authorized administration to make the deal on bond properties," saying they did it during a meeting on June 10.

ABC-7 reviewed that very board meeting to see what exactly was voted on.

The board authorized the Superintendent, Board President, and the district's consulting group Procedeo to issue letters of intent for potential properties.

"Based on recommendations from the non-binding letters of intent will be issued and any further discussion regarding price, final acquisition, terms of the acquisition will come back to the full board for its consideration," said a speaker to the board right before a unanimous vote was made.

Superintendent Galaviz admitted he made a mistake.

District spokesman Gustavo Reveles told ABC-7 the superintendent "acknowledges that procedural oversights occurred in the finalization of the contract due to misinterpretation of board meeting meetings."

He added “legal counsel and other experts have determined that all steps taken were done in good faith with the belief that the transaction was ready to be completed.”

Nevertheless, Barnes told ABC-7 she filed a complaint with the Texas Education Agency over the purchase.

ABC-7 reached out to the TEA, and it said two complaints against Dr. Galaviz are currently being reviewed, which were filed on December 5th and 6th.

However, they would not provide more details.

The Board of Trustees will meet on December 17th, to vote on whether to ratify the purchase.

We have reached out to all other Canutillo ISD board members.

Board President Armando Rodriguez told ABC-7 sides with the district on their position.

We'll update you right here as we hear back from the rest of the trustees.

You can count on ABC-7 to bring you their decision.