Citizen weighs in on the Uvalde CISD Zone issue

The Uvalde Southwest Neighborhood Association is a group of residents of the southwest side of Uvalde.  We came together to advocate for the improvement of our neighborhood and to be a voice for our neighbors; to communicate their concerns and work with our local government entities to find solutions.  All in a positive manner.

We are aware of the situation the school board finds itself in concerning Trustee Ms. Laura Perez’s residency status.  If the board proceeds to appoint someone to the east side zone vacancy, our west side residents will be left with no representation from our neighborhoods on the board.  This would be unacceptable both morally, democratically and most seriously, legally.

Attached is a copy of the State of Texas Education Code with the section highlighted that unquestionably defines that Ms. Perez’s place on the board is illegal and an exposure to the school district and an exposure to the other school board members.  According to the code, Ms. Perez’s place on the board is vacated automatically once it was known she did not live in the west zone and maybe even since she was first appointed in 2020.

As we stated above, we would like to offer some solutions to this quandary.  The first option, and our preference, is for you to have a special election for both vacant seats in order to give the voters a true voice in the matter.  We know there is a time limit according to the education code, but it can be done.  The second option is to consider Ms. Perez as an applicant for the east zone seat and have a special election for the west zone seat.  Appointing a west zone resident to the west zone seat would be our last preference.

In closing, we ask that you seriously consider our suggestions, seriously consider the right of representation of the students and voters of our side of town and do the right thing for UVALDE!