In order to restore the trust of the community, Texas Education Agency Commissioner Michael Williams announced the appointment of a board of managers to oversee the El Paso Independent School District.

"It is simply my judgment that at this time, in order to regain the full trust of the community, it is important for us to change the players in this part of the game," said Williams.

Williams discussed his plans at a news conference to appoint a five-member board of managers to oversee the school district's seven elected trustees, who have come under fire for failing to catch a district-wide cheating scheme devised by former superintendent Lorenzo Garcia. Williams explained the five-member board will have all the authority when it comes to making decisions, oversight, operations and management.

Last week, Williams asked for an investigation into why the TEA did not catch a cheating scheme in EPISD that denied some students a proper education in order to bypass state and federal accountability standards.

At the conference Williams named state Rep. Dee Margo, who will leave office in January; TEA Monitor Judy Castleberry; the city of El Paso's Chief Financial Officer Carmen Arrieta-Candelaria; Public Service Board CEO Ed Archuleta, who will leave the PSB in July; and a fifth member whom Sen. Jose Rodriguez will recommend to the commissioner. Williams asked Rodriquez to submit a list of five people he feels are qualified for the position.

"I was looking for people who had experienced dealing with large entities and dealing with crises and maybe at times, dealing with chaos. People who were respected in their community," said Williams.

"Hopefully we can provide some transparency and clear the air. Let's face it. The negatives have been rampant out there for some time and I think the problems with EPISD are affecting this community and far beyond this community more than people realize," said Margo.

They will have the power to decide on the new superintendent, said Williams. The interim superintendent Vernon Butler will remain.

"I think of it as a rebirth," said Butler.

Williams said the managers will have all the authority and will supersede the power of the school board. But the board will remain intact. They will have to report to the board of managers.

"The board of managers will have all the responsibilities, all the authority," said Williams.

Many in the community have voiced concern after a perceived lack of action from the current board in the wake of test-cheating scandals.

"I think there is a perceived frustration," said Butler. "There have been some serious concerns within our community and the city of El Paso, so I understand he needed to make a decision," he added.

It's a thought echoed by newly appointed manager, Margo.

"It seemed to be (moving) at less than a snail's pace. They've had a lot of problems and it's affecting a lot of things and something has got to give. Something has got to happen and it is time. I know that parents are quite concerned," said Margo.

Williams says the managers will serve a maximum of two years. He added the school district will continue to elect board members. The next election is in May 2013.

Margo said there is a connectivity between the work he did in Austin dealing with EPISD to his new assignment.
He saw how drastically the scandal affected the community, on a national level.

"I know the Pentagon and Fort Bliss were quite concerned with EPISD. I know physicians with some of our hospitals whose spouses chose not to come here after reading about EPISD. So it has had some very detrimental ramifications for this community," said Margo.

Williams says he's confident the managers can help turn the once sinking EPISD ship back around and put it on a new course.

"If you cheat, we'll find out. And if we find out, we're going to take strong action," said Williams.

But Margo says he knows there are long hours in his future.

"We (board) understand this will be a challenge," said Margo.

The appointment of a board of managers requires federal pre-clearance from the United States Department of Justice. That process is expected to take 60 to 90 days.

García is serving a three-year federal prison term after pleading guilty in June to two counts of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, including scheming with at least six unnamed co-conspirators to rig the federal accountability system.

KFOX14 news partner The El Paso Times began detailing the cheating scheme in April after compiling thousands of documents through the state's Public Information Act. The scheme targeted students at low-performing campuses to boost graduation rates and sophomore scores on the test by kicking some out of school, preventing others from enrolling and holding foreign students in the ninth grade for a year, no matter how many credits they had earned.

TEA officials did not catch the cheating scheme and twice cleared the EPISD of wrongdoing in 2010 in response to allegations by then-state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh that the district was "disappearing" students at low-performing campuses to skirt state and federal accountability standards. García then used those TEA reports to dismiss allegations of cheating.

Three months ago, the state agency required the EPISD to hire an external auditor to examine how the cheating scheme went unchecked and was able to thrive at the school district. But the agency, which also failed to catch the scheme, did not require the same of itself.

Williams, assumed the role of TEA commissioner on Sept. 1. He has requested that an internal audit of TEA be done to find out where the agency went wrong and why they were not able to identify the problems at EPISD sooner.