SAN ANTONIO – SAISD Superintendent Jaime Aquino told staff members in a memo that “Apologies aren’t enough” for the human error and faulty equipment that led to a district-wide shutdown this week — it’s cost two district leaders their jobs.
Aquino said he accepted the resignations of Ken Thompson, Deputy Superintendent of Operations, and Mike Eaton, Chief of Operations, but said the current situation stems from several issues “including aging infrastructure, system failures and being underfunded by the state.”
A district spokesperson provided KSAT with a copy of the memo that was sent to staff members on Thursday.
In it, Aquino thanked Thompson and Eaton for their “significant contributions” to the district, but said, “We must admit that this was an error on the part of leaders in our district.”
All 98 SAISD schools were closed Thursday and Friday after widespread heating system failures created school environments too cold to educate students.
A cold front brought temperatures well below freezing as SAISD schools were out for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday on Monday with lows dipping down into the teens. Students went back to class Tuesday and found temperatures in some classrooms were in the 50s as temperatures stayed below freezing for more than 50 consecutive hours.
The district announced late Tuesday night that it would be closing 20 campuses on Wednesday. As more issues were discovered, another 11 schools were added to the closures list on Wednesday.
Aquino then held a news conference Wednesday saying about 70% of SAISD schools had experienced some degree of heating system failure and all schools would be closed the rest of the week.
“We are painfully aware that San Antonio ISD was the only school system in the region to experience this significant of a systems failure. We know there is more than one cause. For that reason, we will work an external investigative team to examine the event and publish a full report summarizing the reasons for this breakdown,” Aquino said in Thursday’s memo.
He also said that Jenny Arredondo, Senior Executive Director of Child Nutrition Services, would take charge of the operations division on an interim basis with senior executive support from Deputy Superintendent Patti Salzmann.
“They are already working campus by campus to determine whether schools are ready for students beginning Monday and that students, staff and families have suitable facility conditions,” Aquino said.
He said schools would only reopen when staff on the campuses know that the classrooms are ready for learning.
Original News Source Link
Need digital marketing for your business? Check out KingdomX Digital Marketing San Antonio!