According to the Odessa American, “about two weeks before former interim superintendent H.T. Sanchez accepted a job in Tucson, he asked an Ector County Independent School District subordinate to look over the contract offer from Tucson using his ECISD email account.” The newspaper obtained the emails obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request.
According to the paper the “appropriateness of the conversations is being called into question, as one ECISD board member says Sanchez took advantage while in power.”
In the emails from June 17 and June 18, Sanchez discussed a contract with Tucson Unified School District via email with an employee with the PROACT superintendent search firm hired by TUSD. He made the request of a $225,000 base salary compared with his ECISD salary of $201,426 according to the emails.
ECISD Human Resources Director (and current acting superintendent) Brian Moersch emailed Sanchez a breakdown of the TUSD superintendent contract of $308,258, which did not include insurance premiums, life insurance or retirement annuities, according to the emails.
“Thanks for the breakdown. Thus (sic) could be a good consult service for you!” Sanchez wrote to Moersch at 12:04 a.m. June 18. About 15 minutes later, Moersch responded that he was searching for the information on whether the TUSD contract had increased since 2010 and that the separation clause needs clarification, among other comments.
Moersch, in the email, said Catherine Clifton, who is an Odessa employment law attorney, “will look over the changes and add her own suggestions in the morning. ECISD will not be able to match Tucson. I have more info to provide in person,” the email said.
The email interaction wherein Sanchez requested information or consultation on his Tucson contract occurred in the early morning on the same day that a group of community and business leaders implored the ECISD board during a meeting to keep Sanchez in ECISD and do all they could to keep him from being hired by Tucson’s district.
At one point in the emails, Moersch advised Sanchez that “ECISD will not be able to match Tucson.”
Sanchez would continue serving ECISD as interim superintendent for 11 more days before making it known to the public which way he would lean.
Board member Doyle Woodall said his feelings about Sanchez haven’t changed since he was with ECISD.
“What I see there, is H.T. taking advantage of his position and putting Moersch in a compromising situation. That’s H.T. taking advantage and I guarantee it’s not the first time it’s happened. I don’t have a problem with anything Brian Moersch did,” Woodall said.
In one email from 10:53 a.m. June 25, Sanchez tells an ECISD employee his wife Mary Sanchez, former Barbara Jordan Elementary principal is “still leaning that we should go.”
Another email from 10:10 p.m. June 17, Sanchez tells the president of the New Tech Network that he will take New Tech Odessa principal Adrian Vega with him to TUSD if he goes. There are other email discussions with an ECISD administrator; “what are your thoughts about helping me in TUSD?”
In another email on June 20, Sanchez writes “I will see what the board does, but at this point, TUSD looks like the place for me.”
While the Texas Education Agency doesn’t have a clear-cut opinion on this situation, spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliff said, the Texas Association of School Personnel Administrators did say “generally speaking” it may not be the most effective way to seek advice.
Adrian Vega was hired as Sanchez’s deputy superintendent almost immediately after Sanchez took the job. Vega’s position was not opened to the public or subject to any of the normal hiring protocols of the District.
Just last week, TUSD employees were expressing concern with the appropriateness of Sanchez’s office furniture window shopping while the Tucson community, the sixth poorest metropolitan areas in the country, stepped up to buy supplies for teachers.