𝗥𝗨𝗡𝗢𝗙𝗙 𝗖𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝟲 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝟳 𝗔𝗡𝗦𝗪𝗘𝗥 𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗦𝗖 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗨𝗠

TSC's second floor conference room was filled to capacity for Wednesday's question session for runoff candidates for TSC Board of Trustees Places 6 and 7, in itself a good sign despite the feeble percentage of registered voters who participate in local elections.

Is there no one bright enough in Cameron County to combine, consolidate our four recent elections into one or two, not just for efficiency, but also to save tens of thousands of dollars?

Cutting to the chase, one prospective board member, Place 7 candidate Hilda Silva, with 43 years in education, stood head and shoulders above the other three candidates, not only understanding the actual role of a board trustee, but with some sort of vision as to where improvements could be made.

Her opponent for Place 7, Norma Lopez-Harris, a pharmacist, was, unfortunately, clueless, repeating over and over again that "her door would always be open" to students.  LOL!

Is Lopez-Harris going to leave her job at the pharmacy and set up an office at TSC for counseling and mentoring, something not even part of the job description of a board trustee?  TSC has advisors and counselors to fulfill that role.

Hilda Silva, on the other hand, understood that the work of a trustee was about making certain the district had the infrastructure, providing the necessary tools for students to succeed.

Silva seems horrified TSC has not applied for Department of Education grants she feels the school is qualified to receive.

Current District 6 Trustee J.J. De Leon, a workmanlike sort who's served 6 years on the TSC board and over 30 years in various BISD positions, betters newbie Edward Camarillo in terms of life experience and service.

De Leon, who himself was a "non-traditional" TSC student some years ago, pushes for the scheduling of night classes to facilitate students like himself who work during the day.

Edward Camarillo, handpicked by the board chair to challenge De Leon, has much more serious personal health issues to deal with before serving on any board, easily weighing 350 lbs on a small frame.

No disrespect or unkindness intended, but Camarillo should immediately consult a doctor, dietician or mental health professional before he succumbs to any number of health issues associated with morbid obesity.  (I know we have two local judges, brothers, in much the same situation and my hope for them is identical.)

Tonight I received the answer to a question I've been asking recently, receiving no clear, accurate answer.

While dual enrollment high school students taking college course in their respective high schools, but credited to TSC number over 4,000, actual regular student enrollment is less than 1,000, making increasing regular enrollment a priority.(Those high school students taking college courses will receive an associate degree when they finish high school and never actually attend TSC as the associate degree they receive is as far as TSC goes academically.)

Another longtime issue is that TSC students, like others of voting age in our town, simply do not vote. (Only 11 voted today during early voting for the TSC runoff.)

For many years Father Armand Matthew was paid handsomely to run the Center for Civic Engagement, supposedly teaching students how to be involved citizens, but his salary was money wasted.  

Hell, teachers don't even vote in Brownsville as the number of voters in school elections is actually fewer than the number of teachers.

Does TSC have a professor or BISD a teacher with the skillset to actually motivate students of voting age to participate in elections? We've seen no results so far from either educational entity in teaching students to be involved citizens.

All four candidates in the runoff were asked what differentiated them from the other candidates.  Three started their answer with "Well, I was once a student at TSC" . . . . . an answer that didn't actually distinguish them from the other candidates, but maybe that question went over their heads.

If you've not voted yet, please remember that two of our local bloggers are most likely paid to trash certain candidates and ignore their descriptions of specific candidates as "cockroaches" or "traitors."  It's just what we used to call "yellow journalism," in other words, bull excrement.