<\/p>\n
From left, Teri Mendoza and Adrian Bustillos attends the San Antonio Independent School District\u00a0board meeting Monday, July 20 in San Antonio. Bustillos was named the new SAISD superintendent during the board meeting.<\/p>\n
Alma E. Hernandez\/For the San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
San Antonio Independent School District trustees officially hired Bustillos as superintendent on Monday night, after naming him the\u00a0lone finalist<\/a> for the top job last month. He will oversee about 6,000 employees across roughly 80 campuses that serve 42,000 students.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The timing gives Bustillos a chance to lead the district for a full school year before mandatory state consequences related to student test scores could kick in. The performance of\u00a0several schools on 2027 state tests could<\/a> put SAISD at risk of state intervention, including a districtwide takeover.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in a state of crisis,\u201d Board President Alicia Sebastian said during Monday\u2019s meeting. \u201cIf we don\u2019t get this right, then we\u2019ll find ourselves in a very different situation, having a different conversation at the end of the year, and that is not what we want to see ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Nine SAISD schools risk receiving a fourth\u00a0consecutive\u00a0unacceptable rating from the state in mid-August as district officials project roughly one-third of all campuses are likely to<\/a>\u00a0receive a D or F in 2026.<\/a> Last school year, trustees, voted to close two <\/a>of those struggling schools and hand operations of three others<\/a> to a\u00a0charter operator focused on rapidly boosting academics.<\/p>\n RELATED: STAAR gains offer lifeline to some San Antonio schools at risk of state intervention<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Texas Education Agency is anticipated to release A-F ratings<\/a>\u00a0for public schools in August. If a school scores failing grades for five years in a row,\u00a0the state must either close the offending campus or\u00a0take over the entire district.<\/p>\n Speaking to trustees after a 5-2 vote to hire him, Bustillos acknowledged the tall task ahead of him.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are at a critical time here in this district today,\u201d he said.”I am committed to working alongside this team with the community to improve the student outcomes of this district to prevent a state takeover.\u201d<\/p>\n Bustillos\u2019 selection capped an expedited search that began after outgoing Superintendent Jaime Aquino announced his retirement in March<\/a>. Some trustees said they wanted the next superintendent in place before the coming school year.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The board moved Monday to waive a required superintendent certificate for Bustillos as he works to earn the accreditation. He has not been a superintendent before and will begin at SAISD after he earns his the certification.\u00a0<\/p>\n An exact start date has not been set and details about his contract were not immediately available.<\/p>\n \u201cNext year, you\u2019ll be reading the headlines: how San Antonio ISD transformed the entire system,\u201d Bustillos said. \u201cThe time is now\u2026 and that\u2019s about to happen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Bustillos’ background<\/p>\n Bustillos previously served as chief transformation officer of Aldine ISD in the Houston area. The district serves a large Latino population and a high number of students living in poverty\u00a0\u2014 much like\u00a0SAISD. He\u00a0spent about seven years in Aldine ISD, where he oversaw the district\u2019s school choice initiative and managed in-district charter partnerships. At\u00a0SAISD, he will lead the Texas district with the most in-district charters.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n He also helped Aldine close schools as it dealt with declining enrollment. SAISD has closed 17 schools over the past three years<\/a>, including two\u00a0West Side campuses last year. District leaders consider academic performance and enrollment when deciding whether to close a campus.<\/p>\n READ MORE: North East ISD among 20 districts under federal sexual misconduct review<\/a><\/p>\n SAISD leaders have said the district\u2019s ideal footprint is closer to 50 campuses\u00a0\u2014 down from the<\/a> roughly 80 SAISD currently operates.<\/a> Many of its schools are smaller, older and costly to maintain, and some don\u2019t have the capacity to serve more students if neighboring campuses close.<\/p>\n Before Aldine, Bustillos spent 13 years at El Paso ISD. During his tenure, the district became the focus of a state cheating investigation,\u00a0which triggered a TEA takeover. An appointed board of managers oversaw El Paso\u00a0ISD from 2012 to 2015.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The state agency reprimanded Bustillos and several others in 2017, according to the El Paso Times.<\/a> In 2018, Bustillos joined El Paso ISD\u2019s administrative team in the Office of Transformation. One of two\u00a0SAISD trustees who voted against his selection last month raised concerns about the TEA sanction.<\/p>\n Some trustees remain concerned<\/p>\n That trustee, Jacob Ramos, doubled down on his issues with Bustillos on Monday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHow do we justify overlooking this when selecting the leader of our entire school district? Would we allow a student caught cheating to become valedictorian?\u201d Ramos said. \u201cThe answer is no.\u201d <\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n He and trustee Stephanie Torres voted against hiring Bustillos.\u00a0<\/p>\n Voicing support for Bustillos’ hiring, longtime trustee and former mayor Ed\u00a0Garza said the board interviewed more than 40 candidates before making their selection.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery candidate had a red flag. Every candidate had something that could become a headline,\u201d Garza said. \u201cIt\u2019s our job to be able to weigh those pros and cons of every candidate\u2019s strengths and weaknesses.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n While Bustillos\u2019 predecessor Aquino had said he wanted to serve five years<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 with his retirement taking effect in January\u00a0\u2014 trustees sidelined him on July 1,\u00a0placing him in a consulting role until his\u00a0official departure in 2027. Toni Thompson, the district\u2019s longtime human resources director, has led the district on an interim basis<\/a> since then.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From left, Teri Mendoza and Adrian Bustillos attends the San Antonio Independent School District\u00a0board meeting Monday, July 20…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-380512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}