DONNA, Texas — A newly filled federal lawsuit against a Texas border school board provides even more insight into the actions that in have wreaked havoc in the small community. The lawsuit was filed in federal court by a number of high ranking employees and former employees of the Donna Independent School District (Donna ISD). They claim a series of politically motivated retaliations at the hands of Board President Alberto Sandoval and his two closest allies Tomasa Ramos and Nick Castillo.
In the federal lawsuit, a number of directors and longtime employees claim that following the November 2014 election, which is when they took control of the board, Sandoval’s faction began a process of singling out and retaliating against those who did not openly support him. The plaintiffs claim that Sandoval demoted those individuals at a considerable pay cut or replaced them with their allies of the board members, according to court documents obtained by Breitbart Texas.
The move was aimed at creating financial hardship to the employees and forced them to seek employment elsewhere. This created vacancies that the board sought to fill with Sandoval’s cronies, the plaintiffs claim.
In order to drive the point of retribution even deeper, the employees were notified of their demotion just before Christmas in order to create emotional harm, the attorney wrote in the lawsuit.
“The letters were meant to not only punish the plaintiffs but to send a message to the entire Donna community of the consequences of failing to support the Sandoval faction,” the plaintiffs wrote in the lawsuit.
As Breitbart Texas previously reported, in the November school board election, a new faction led by Sandoval took control of the board and almost immediately began making a series of questionable changes. One of these was the hiring of a convicted felon as the school attorney who is now earning more than $300,000 a year among other perks. The previous attorney was paid $8,000 per month. Since Salinas is not allowed to practice in federal court because of his felony conviction for money laundering, he will have to refer the case to another attorney which will cost the school board even more money.
With the help of Robert J. Salinas, the felonious attorney, and Donna ISD Police Chief Roy Padilla, the school board created a scandal in an attempt to fire the current school superintendent, Jesus Reyna. The superintendent, along with the minority of the school board faced off against Sandoval and his gang in a special board meeting called to discuss firing the superintendent, as Breitbart Texas previously reported. The effort eventually backfired when after much public pressure and media scrutiny, the board voted to keep Reyna. The vote came during an intense board meeting from where Sandoval stormed out with misty eyes.
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