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Gonzales Elementary academic coach urges transparency after district calendar committee runoff
Summary
A Gonzales Elementary academic coach told the McAllen ISD board that a calendar presented in a runoff was not created by the district calendar committee and accused district leadership of a lack of transparency; the board did not take action on the public comment.
Dolly Ramon, an academic coach at Gonzales Elementary and chair of the district’s calendar committee, told the McAllen Independent School District Board of Trustees on Feb. 25 that a calendar advanced to a runoff election had not been created by the calendar committee and that committee members were not given information about who produced the new options.
Ramon said the calendar committee began work in November 2024, produced three calendars informed by a district survey, and recommended that two federal holidays — Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Veterans Day — be treated as options given attendance concerns. She said the committee was later asked to reconvene to consider holidays, then presented with two new calendars that committee members had not created and that the board planned to advance a runoff using one of those new calendars. "How do you have a runoff with a calendar that was never in the running to begin with? And why were we not being transparent about who created these calendars, especially when we are the calendar committee?" Ramon asked in public comment.
Ramon said the committee unanimously agreed neither of the newly presented calendars should go to a vote and said she and other committee members were not provided documentation showing community input that staff had reportedly used to create the new options. The board did not take action on the public comment; the item remained a public-comment submission and no district decision was recorded in response during open session.
Ramon identified herself on the record as a 25-year district employee and as chair of the calendar committee; she requested clearer transparency about how calendars presented to voters are created and who is responsible for drafting options outside the committee’s work.
Board members acknowledged the comment but did not announce follow-up action in open session. The calendar matter appears on the district’s procedural timeline for board consideration and any official changes would be recorded in future agenda items or board material if the administration brings them forward.
