Two Socorro Independent School District Trustees have shirked their duties over the last seven months as the board made important financial decisions that could have far-reaching effects on the district.
Trustees Pablo Barrera and Ricardo “Richard” Castellano have missed 11 board meetings and workshops since they last attended in June, when the board approved a $479.6 million budget with a $22 million deficit for the 2024-25 school year. Castellano abstained from the vote; Barrera voted in favor alongside all the other trustees.
A month prior, in May, Barrera and Castellano were arrested and indicted on felony charges for allegedly targeting district employees at schools where they had personal connections. They have pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations.
Castellano is scheduled for a jury trial Jan. 27 and Barrera on April 14. Castellano’s wife, Gabriella Castellano, who was also arrested on similar charges, is scheduled for a jury trial April 14.
Even with their prolonged absence, Texas Education Agency conservator Michael Hinojosa said the trustees will likely remain on the board unless they resign, move out of the district or are voted out of office in the upcoming school board election this May if they choose to run again.
“Even if that happens, they’re still a board member with voting rights until their replacement is sworn in,” Hinojosa told El Paso Matters.
Residents can also file a petition in district court to have a school board member removed from office for incompetence, official misconduct, intoxication or if they are convicted of a felony.
Barrera and Castellano were elected to serve a four-year term in May 2021 in Districts 5 in the Americas High neighborhood and parts of Sparks and Socorro and District 3 in the El Dorado West neighborhoods, respectively. The position is unpaid. They are up for reelection May 3, along with trustees Cynthia Najera and Paul Guerra.
Only one person — Cindy Hernandez in District 5 — has filed to run in the election, according to SISD’s website.
Candidates have until Feb. 14 to file for a place on the ballot.
Barrera and Castellano have not responded to requests for comment.
LEARN MORE: SISD school board candidate eligibility, election information
The trustees’ absence comes as the district deals with a series of hardships, including operating under a budget deficit, being placed under conservatorship by the TEA, and searching for a new leader after former Superintendent Nate Carman was ousted for awarding contracts to a company with which he had previously done business.
Hinojosa said the search for a new superintendent is paused and will continue after the May election, once any new trustees have taken office.
Since Barrera and Castellano last attended a meeting, the SISD board approved a $25 million loan to make payroll and voted to contract the city to process refunds to homeowners after the district overtaxed them in 2023.
Hinojosa said the trustees’ absence has not affected the board’s ability to make decisions, but acknowledged it may have left their constituents without representation. He said the district plans to start an initiative in the spring to get feedback from the community on other major decisions the board will need to make, such as selecting a new superintendent.
“There’s been very few distractions and the board has worked very closely in unison,” Hinojosa said. “There hasn’t been much representation, but intentionally, that will change in the spring.”
Socorro American Federation of Teachers President Veronica Hernandez said school board meetings have been more efficient since Barrera and Castellano stopped attending.
“They would ask questions which were totally irrelevant to what the vote was about. … Those members kept dwelling on the same issues over and over again,” Hernandez said “It worries me that I don’t know what they’re plotting. They haven’t been around. They don’t want to do the work; they should resign.”
Under the school board’s code of ethics, SISD trustees promise to “diligently prepare for and attend board meetings” and fulfill the “board’s responsibilities of goal setting, policymaking, and evaluation.”
The code was created based on guidelines from the Texas Association of School Boards — a nonprofit organization that provides assistance and training to Texas school boards.
While school boards can create policies that address absent members, most school districts, including the El Paso and Ysleta school districts, follow TASB’s recommendations on board policy, which doesn’t address trustee meeting attendance.
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