EXCLUSIVE: SBCISD: Dr. Puig tried to recant resignation

By PETE BANDA  

Dr. Marc Puig

Dr. Marc Puig

Staff Writer

reporter@sbnewspaper.com

Less than a week into Dr. Marc A. Puig’s resignation as Superintendent at San Benito CISD, it appears as if he may have had a sudden change of heart. According to members of the San Benito School Board, Puig attempted to recant his decision to resign, a decision that came just six months into the three year contract he originally signed back in January.

“He did try to reconcile with the board and wanted to reconsider his resignation,” said SBCISD Board President Ana Cruz. “However, we as a school board had already decided that we needed to move forward as a district… He made a decision on what he thought was best for his family and we had to respect that.”

Last week, Puig shocked the community, and the school board, when he turned in his letter of resignation. The timing of his decision was all the more puzzling considering he had told the NEWS the day prior that he thought the district was “finally turning the corner financially.”

A special school board meeting is scheduled for Saturday morning, where according to Cruz, a new interim superintendent will be named, although there are currently no official candidates.

“All the board members will bring in ideas of candidates for the job and we’ll also be working with a consulting firm to make the right choice,” said Cruz.

Despite the abrupt ending to the Dr. Puig era, Cruz conveyed no regrets in the decision to hire the man from Van Horn ISD back in January. “He was the right man for the job, we always had a very respectful relationship whether we agreed on things or not,” Cruz said. “I think all the board members were shocked when he resigned because we all had such a good working relationship with him… I have nothing but respect for him and wish him the best.”

According to Puig, the district was on course to turn a $700,000 budget deficit into a projected $11.5 million surplus, a statistic that also made his unexpected decision all the more shocking.

“It was kind of like playing linebacker and all of a sudden this 300 pound lineman comes and blindsides you,” said newly elected board member Joe G. Gonzalez. “I wish him nothing but the best, but I really thought he was going to be here for years to come.”

Because of the timing of his resignation, Dr. Puig is now free to sign on to any other school district with an opening. Since the $5,000 stipend Dr. Puig was originally set to receive per terms of his contract was never officially approved by the board before the start of the new school year, the former Superintendent will not be awarded the extra income.

Reports and blogs across social media have speculated that former Santa Maria Superintendent Wilma Jo Smetter, who was terminated in 2011, would be the front runner to replace Puig, however the board could not confirm or deny that.

Attempts to reach Dr. Puig on the matter were unsuccessful.

 

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://www.sbnewspaper.com/2015/07/16/exclusive-sbcisd-dr-puig-tried-to-recant-resignation/

24 comments

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    • outsider on July 23, 2015 at 12:09 am
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    Bring back Puig! He was doing good for San Benito,Think of your children..Give them a chance .Do not just think of yourself and being important,this education is for the students to better theirselves and you as well.

  1. I’m an outsider looking in and it’s sad to see politics ruin the education of the children. I’ve been following the SB politics to get a better sense of the destruction and the path it’s leaving behind. It’s very apparent to me there’s no accountability for the financial stress and poor educational status of the district. There should be a comparison to the neighboring school districts being it’s the same economical status along with the same educational challenges the rest of the school district face. The community should be aware so they can hold all stakeholders accountable for their decisions. Unfortunately, this town spends more time mud slinging between political candidates than actually correcting the issues that are sinking your district. There was so much said about the previous board having agendas but the newly elected board is the same or if not worse because they simply mislead the community. For example, political suicide when candidates say, ” the newly elected board is united”, it’s very obvious their more divided than ever. As far as agenda’s are concerned all candidates believe they have the formula to make great decisions but at the end you get stumped, and ultimately the children suffer. The community needs transparency to evaluate who they voted for and not keep all decisions to a secret. I will honestly tell you San Benito citizens I would not trade places with you even if they paid me. Hold your school board accountable and stop ignoring the cancer it will defeat you..

    • Elaine on July 21, 2015 at 12:14 pm
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    Francisco: there is no asst. super at the moment. The organizational chart had been revised and approved in June board meeting and instead of an asst. supt there were to be two Executive Directors and a chief financial officer, but none of those positions had yet been officially filled. We will see if that is all out the window now.

      • Francisco on July 27, 2015 at 9:53 am
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      Wow, Elaine. How could there be no process in place where it is well documented in an SOP and understood who immediately steps into the Interim Super. role should the Super. step down or go on temporary leave? If they don’t want to hire someone with a title of Asst. Super., then simply note who comes in in the interim, whether it is someone from the district office or a school Principal. This is not a hard thing to do. How much time, energy, and money is being spent identifying an Interim, who will have less of a vested interest in the district’s long term health since he/she will only be there for short period of time? All this could be avoided with a process in place to identify who takes over.

    • Interesting information on July 20, 2015 at 10:07 pm
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    Dr. Puig stated he had been in 7 or was it 8 different districts. If I am not mistaken this was his third superintendency and he hasn’t lasted more than a year in any of them. Also,Yilana whose voting block has dwindled down to six hundred and something votes since she lost the Huerta voting block is a fine one to speak about micromanaging. Her main concern during her entire time in office was the micromanaging the maintenance department where daddy worked.

    • Francisco on July 20, 2015 at 3:48 pm
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    Clearly not enough was done by the board, SBCISD, and community to make Dr. Puig feel welcomed and willing to stay. People change their minds all the time (DeAndre Jordan anyone?). People regularly attempt to resign only to have a change of heart or receive a better offer from the employer to stay. Why can’t Dr. Puig stay? Does this board really feel it is in the district’s (students) best interest to bring in someone else instead of having continuation? Let’s not forget this district is in a bit of financial bind. I was pleased when Yliana and her band of hacks were removed from the board; however, it appears this board is just as incompetent as their predecessors. Ana Cruz is looking like the second coming of Yliana by refusing to work with the other members and Dr. Puig to get something worked out. It can’t be that hard to keep him on board, and it can very easily be business as usual once again. It’s as if they’re trying to show him who’s boss instead of doing what’s best. If a good employee wanted to leave my organization, I would do whatever I could to keep him/her.

    BTW, what’s up with this district always hiring an outsider as an interim as appears will be the case once again? Even city hall has their next-man-up process in place. With unfortunate and unexpected passing of the City Manager, the Assistant City Manager is seamlessly stepping into that role. Why can’t the Asst. Super step in? Is there even an Asst. Super? Unbelievable.

    • Marco on July 20, 2015 at 1:28 pm
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    The community of San Benito and the District needs to quickly “get over” this Superintendent debacle and start focusing on the fact that half of the student population is two, maybe three grade levels behind due to many factors not to exclude social promotion. Half of your eighth-grade population has the cognition of fifth and sixth graders. That ain’t going to “cut the mustard” come test time and accountability time…not to mention the “real world”. Our students appear to have every tool and asset a student could possible want or need and it is not making much of a difference. Something to think about, huh.

    • Elaine on July 20, 2015 at 12:55 pm
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    San Benito CISD desperately needs some new blood if it is going to make any progress! Puig was on the right track, but now the district just needs to move forward with a new leader and it needs to do so quickly.

    • Norma Sandoval on July 19, 2015 at 2:26 pm
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    It is not Board Members Gonzalez and Cruz who were blind-sided. It was Dr. Puig that was caught off guard. You all sacked your own quarterback because your focus is on you.

    • Reform San Benito on July 17, 2015 at 4:20 pm
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    There is no reason why Dr. Puig’s era must end — he still is the right man for this job!

    In only six shorts months he was able to undo and reverse the destructive decisions this board made. He came into our community, immediately assessed what needed to be improved, and put forth an intelligent and comprehensive plan to fix our district. He accomplished in six short months what Trustees like Cruz, Leal and Medrano could not do in five years! Even with Padilla and Mendez coming on in 2014, these five trustees floundered until Dr. Puig set the course for the recovery we have now.

    Dr. Puig brought with him fresh eyes and a new vision and, for the first time in a long time, renewed hope. Most importantly, he brought with him a novel approach that we citizens have never before seen from our leaders and elected officials: Transparency.

    When he came to town, he publicly identified the financial mess our district was in, which probably did not endear him to his bosses but was exactly the kind of transparency this community has been seeking and expecting and begging for for years. Most life-long residents of this community thought the word “transparency” did not really exist, except in campaign promises. In his first few months in our community, Dr. Puig showed us, not only does it exist, but he won over an entire community and silenced all political factions with the cold, hard truth.

    My guess is that approach is too much for these trustees to bear, which is why they are so willing to let him walk when he is obviously the most qualified person to lead our district. For too long in this community our trustees and City Commission have met in Executive Session, secretly discussing matters and setting policy that affect thousands of us and only reveal what they want us to know. For too long trustees, for the most part, have been trumpeting their own agendas whether or not they benefit our community’s children. A man like Dr. Puig threatens their cozy little cocoons of power with his openness with the media and willingness to be transparent. This is why it’s so easy for them to let him walk away.

    Remember Trustees, you represent the citizens of this community and are ethically bound to act in the best interest of this district. I believe the overwhelming majority in this community believe Dr. Puig should be forgiven and retained. Can anyone tell me what happened to the last board majority who made decisions contrary to the will of the people? Where are they now?

    Retain Dr. Puig. He is clearly the most qualified person for our district (and he won’t cost the district any more of those ridiculous fees for superintendent searches!).

      • Reform what exactly? on July 20, 2015 at 10:56 am
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      Unfortunately for you Mr Cassidy(yes we know its you) the type of transparency Dr Puig brought to the table was his version of transparency. He saved the district nothing. He bragged about saving us $6 million dollars when in reality $4million of it was given to us by the state. All he did was stir the pot so the citizens of San Benito would be in constant turmoil. He essentially created a distraction while he tried to get away with certain things. Thats not transparency. That’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The other $2 million saved was from teachers that jumped ship off the Dr Puig bandwagon. Did he bring new hope? Yes. Did he deliver? Apparently not. If it was the Board’s fault(not), then why not stay and fight the good fight? Why tuck tail and run? You know why? Because he wasn’t planning on staying in San Benito for the long run. First offer he got, he was outta here. Get over it. He resigned, the Board had to move on. Although, I applaud Mr Leal’s passionate words, Mr Padilla was right. These problems Dr Puig apparently found the Board was well aware of before they hired him.

        • Reform San Benito on July 20, 2015 at 4:33 pm
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        Of course you know it’s me; I’ve already publicly stated I am behind this assumed name. That’s more than I can say about you.

        Please tell me, if Mr. Padilla and the other trustees were aware of the overstaffing issues and the drop in student enrollment — and the overall dire financial condition of the district — prior to approving the 2014-2015 fiscal year budget, why did they not rectify the situation in that budget? Or at least take steps? Why did they wait until hiring Dr. Puig mid-year to address these issues? Were they not paying a superintendent more than Dr. Puig when they worked together preparing the 2014-15 budget that only perpetuated the downward spiral? If they were all so aware of these issues, why was it necessary to bring in an outsider to fix it? Maybe it’s because these trustees who have been here for “the long run” could not figure it out or they didn’t have the gumption to make the tough decisions they were entrusted to make when they were elected by the citizens.

        There in lies the answer, does it not. It was easier to bring in an outsider because if the tough decisions blew up and the outsider “tuck[ed] tail and run,” they’d all have a scapegoat at whom to point fingers. Pretty convenient, isn’t it. As far as your assertion that he stay and “fight the good fight,” who in their right mind stays in a position where he/she has to fight with their bosses? That’s ludicrous! That’s a losing proposition Dr. Puig is too intelligent to play. By your same logic, those teachers who “jumped ship” should have stayed to “fight the good fight.”

        How is it you know so much about Dr. Puig, his thought processes, and any other offers he may or may not have? It would seem to reason that he resigned without any other offers or he may not have tried to rescind his resignation. Apparently he thought long and hard about his resignation and tried to stay “in San Benito for the long run” but the board put an end to that. First chance they got, too. Thank God Trustee Leal had the compassion and good sense to realize Puig is the right person for this job. I believe many in this community realizes as much.

        You and I can disagree on this topic all we want. Fact is, we all have lost. Our children, once again, have lost most. More instability in the people they should look up to to provide just that. Sure, the school year will start anew in a few weeks, but it will start and end without the one person who made such an impactful impression in only six months on the job. I truly believe Dr. Puig had so much more to offer this community and our children. I agree with Trustee Hector Leal: Dr. Puig was and still is the right person for this job.

      • Raul on July 20, 2015 at 11:37 am
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      He only seemed transparent because he was always in the news, feeding the public sugar-coated information. But what did he really do for the district? Knowing that the district is in financial turmoil, he creates four executive positions that total about $400,000-This would make his job so much easier. Who was he really looking out for?
      And who was he going to put in those high-paying positions? Hmmm…I can name a few, very vocal district administrators that really put themselves out there with the whole “Bring Back Puig” Campaign. Time will only tell if he was really “number crunching” or if he was “number manipulating.” Either way, Puig is out, and it’s time to move on. God Bless SBCISD.

    • GROW UP on July 17, 2015 at 3:30 pm
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    Dr. Puig, YOU resigned! No one forced you out!! Shame on you for misleading our community! You did nothing great for San Benito except cause more turmoil! Grow up and admit what you did and tell the truth and move along! I pray we get a TRUE LEADER that will make a difference!!

      • Raul on July 20, 2015 at 11:39 am
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      He’s caused so much division too.

      • truthandjusticeforall on July 20, 2015 at 2:05 pm
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      Grow Up, your absolutely right. What the citizenry needs to do is just simply say goodbye, wave goodbye, and show him the way north. What did he do in six months? What he did, was cause great discomfort, uncertainty, and resentment. Did he trim the top? No! He trimmed from the bottom up. He began to create a superintendent’s cabinet, just like the superintendent immediately north of us has done in that district. I say, good riddance and don’t let the door hit you on the way out. To the board I say, stand your own ground. You will find another to come in and save money at the expense of employees.
      The last time I commented on this issue, I stated “time will tell.” Well, time was sure short.

    • FACTS on July 17, 2015 at 3:26 pm
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    To everyone jumping to conclusions and bashing the board, get the facts first!!! Dr. Puig did not create a surplus or savings. All the teachers he scared with his “RIF” comments that left the district are the ones to be thanked for future savings!! How can people be soooo blind to the truth!! Could it be that you all are scared that a true leader will take the time to look at your credentials and expose you and how you are not qualified to stay in your high paying positions?! HMMMMM, well if that is the case then good riddance Puig for doing nothing else but protect all of YLIANA’S friends that work for the district!!!

      • Hannah on July 20, 2015 at 11:43 am
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      Starting with that Espinoza lady. She has always caused problems wherever she goes. Most of her staff isn’t too fond of her.

        • Rosie on July 21, 2015 at 9:28 am
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        First of all this post had nothing to do with Mrs. Espinoza. But since you brought her up let me tell you something… She is a very hard working and caring lady. She knows exactly what needs to be done to improve. Yes some people may say she is strict and causes problems but its only cause they are not used to be told what to do. At the end of the day she knows what is right for the students and her employees!

    • Truth and Justice on July 17, 2015 at 3:20 pm
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    I find it funny that all those people that are crying and fighting for Puig to stay are the same people that Yliana and her ghetto board majority gave administrative jobs and extreme pay raises. Don’t believe me? Go to open records and check it out!

    • unknown on July 16, 2015 at 9:26 pm
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    Board, if you are reading this, please let Dr. Puig come back. He is what is best for the children and employees of the district. We beg you. Please.

    • Cosmo Tamayo on July 16, 2015 at 6:31 pm
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    Puig walked into the perfect storm. He chose to bail on us. Now, he wants to come back. Everyone, and there is no one among us without fault that has done that. He did it early in the game. Perhaps, he should have stood his ground. Personally, we should give this guy a second chance. However, there are consequences…if he decides to bail on us again we are not willing as taxpayers to pay to Super’s at once. If he is willing to sign such a contract I am all for it.

    • What a Joke on July 16, 2015 at 4:14 pm
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    Wow!!! So it is confirmed…the Board drove away Dr Puig and made no effort at working to improve SBCISD! It’s obvious they do not care for the students and staff. And even worse, Smetter as superintendent?!? WHAT A JOKE! Let’s not forget she was terminated from Santa Maria for entering into agreements without board approval so her appointment as interim would suit the new majority well as they’ve shown they are expert at micromanaging…SMETTER is the perfect puppet for this new Board of puppetmasters!
    THE CIRCUS IS IN TOWN & I WANT TICKETS!

      • Lynn on July 20, 2015 at 12:02 pm
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      Definition of Micromanaging= Yliana directing an employee to write a letter to remove an insurance carrier and replacing said insurance carrier with her buddy’s.

      The board hires the Superintendent. They are his boss. Therefore, if they have questions or concerns, he answers to them. That is not micromanaging. The only people the board answers to are their constituents. And you, my dear, are not the only constituent. Maybe if you would speak to the board members like a normal human being, instead of anonymously bash them, they would listen to your thoughts. Your approach is off.

      p.s. You missed the Circus. It was at public comment of the regular board meeting. But don’t worry. I hear there is an instant replay on YouTube. Have fun watching the hypocrite show!

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