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Board declines requested remedy after closed grievance hearing involving Pueblo Hills High School employee
Summary
After a closed-level 3 grievance hearing, the Socorro ISD Board of Trustees voted to deny the remedy requested by employee F. Cerda Gerardo. Trustees heard deliberations in closed session and returned to open session for action; trustees raised questions about the district’s climate-survey procedures and mentoring for first‑year principals.
Socorro Independent School District trustees voted Thursday to deny the remedy requested in a level‑3 grievance filed by F. Cerda Gerardo, an employee at Pueblo Hills High School, after a closed‑session hearing.
The board first announced it would move into a closed meeting to hear the grievance, citing the Texas Government Code and naming the specific exemptions invoked: “We are going to hold a closed meeting to hear the level 3 grievance appeal of employee F. Cerda Gerardo … under government code sections 551.071 and 551.074,” the board’s representative said before the closed session. The employee and her attorney appeared virtually for the hearing.
The action matters because the board’s vote was the formal response after the closed deliberation. During open session after the board returned from executive session, trustees discussed whether to approve the remedy requested by Ms. Cerda Gerardo; a motion “not to approve the remedy requested, which is to reinstate Ms. Serda,” was moved and seconded and the motion passed.
Trustees used the open session to ask staff for factual follow‑up about district processes that arose during the grievance presentation. One trustee asked whether the district has a standard operating procedure for conducting climate surveys; a district staff member responded, “No, sir. We don’t.” Trustees and staff discussed the short window used for the school’s climate survey in this case and whether the district should adopt a districtwide standard for timing, anonymity and follow‑up so climate surveys are used primarily as improvement tools rather than punitive measures.
Board members also asked about supports for first‑time principals. A principal who spoke during the meeting said she had mentors assigned but that mentor assignments changed during the school year, and she described having only limited months of direct mentoring. Trustees raised that mentoring and structured follow‑up after personnel actions are part of evaluating whether leadership changes achieved the intended results.
After discussion, the board voted on the motion to deny the requested remedy. The motion was seconded by a trustee; the chair called for the vote and the motion passed by voice vote. The board did not provide additional public details about the closed‑session deliberations beyond the procedural notes required for such personnel grievances.
Trustees and administrators said they will consider administrative and policy changes to how climate surveys are conducted and how follow‑up is documented, but no specific board directive or formal policy change was adopted during Thursday’s open session.
The district’s legal reference for the closed proceeding and the personnel policy cited during the open discussion were disclosed in meeting comments: Government Code sections 551.071 and 551.074 (grounds for closed deliberation) and the district policy identified as DGBA (local) were invoked in connection with the grievance process.
The board recorded the formal action in the meeting minutes and moved on to other agenda items.
