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El Paso ISD moves to closed session after public call for transparency in superintendent search
Summary
At a Nov. 17 special meeting, a single public commenter demanded disclosure of a five‑candidate list and called for the board president to recuse; the board said the search is confidential and closed the meeting under Texas Government Code sections governing candidate privacy.
A special meeting of the El Paso ISD Board of Trustees on Nov. 17 was called to order at 7:33 a.m. and moved into closed session after a public commenter urged greater transparency in the district’s superintendent search.
The public commenter, identified in the transcript as "Mister Moore," told the board to "release the list of 5 you come up with today," asked that the board president recuse until that list is public and urged officials to "remove the curtain of secrecy" and conduct business "in full daylight of everybody." He also questioned the "cost of the catering," saying, "My members don't have supplies for their classrooms, but we got catered breakfasts."
A board representative responded that the search is confidential and said, "We all have signed a nondisclosure agreement" and must adhere to confidentiality obligations. Another speaker reiterated that the meeting was closed "for the privacy of the candidates who are applying for the job" and characterized the process as professional.
Following that exchange the presiding official moved to close the meeting to an executive session "under sections 551.071, 551.074, and 551.129 of the Texas Government Code." The official recorded the time the meeting was closed, 8:59 a.m., and adjourned the public portion of the meeting. The transcript does not record a roll-call vote or any formal tally associated with the decision to go into closed session, nor does it provide the amount spent on catering that was referenced by the commenter.
The transcript contains inconsistent name references: the presiding official initially referred to the public speaker as "Mr. Rossmore" and later thanked "Mister Moore." The transcript also refers to the board president as both "Hanani" and "Anany." The article reports names and quotations exactly as they appear in the transcript without reconciling those inconsistencies.
The board cited Texas statutory exceptions that allow a governmental body to meet in closed session for consultation with attorneys, personnel matters and other specified candidate-privacy reasons (Texas Government Code sections 551.071, 551.074 and 551.129 were invoked on the record). The public portion of the meeting ended with the board moving into executive session; no further public details or votes were recorded in the provided transcript.
