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Vol. CXXXIV, No. 161 ! Section designed and copy edited by Mike Tobias, Christopher Clausen and Dennis Meloncon, Mike.Tobias@BeaumontEnterprise.com

.comEnterprise.com/BISD Enterprise.com Enterprise.com

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Beaumont ISD Superintendent Dr. Timothy Char-gois bites his lip before the beginning of Monday’sschool board meeting. BISD held its monthly

agenda review meeting Monday night. Mondaymorning, the TEA announced that it would be re-placing the superintendent and the school board.

Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX

Beaumont ISD trustees to appeal state’s decisionto take over school board and oust Chargois

Opinionsvary onthe state’sdecision

IfBeaumont ISDisunsuccess-ful in itsappealofastate-orderedtakeoverof thedistrict, aboardofmostly localmanagersandnewsuperintendentwillbe inplaceby Juneandoustedsuperinten-dentTimothyChargoiscouldstillhavea job in thedistrict.

Onlyafter theappealsprocessiscomplete—anothermonthfromnow—willEducationCommissionerMichaelWilliamsnameanewsuperintendent.

TheBeaumont school dis-trict intends to appeal TexasEducationCommissionerMichaelWilliams’ decisionto replace the school boardwith a board ofmanagersand remove SuperintendentTimothyChargois, a decisionat least one trustee has calledawaste of time.

The boardwill discusswhether to appealWilliams’decision in closed sessionat its regularly scheduledThursday nightmeeting.

Themeeting starts at 5p.m. in theBISDadministra-

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BEAUMONT

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BEAUMONT

BISD, page 3A

BOARD, page 7A

Thephrase “under newmanage-ment” nowapplies to the Beaumontschool district, but opinions onwhatthatmeans varywidely, depending onthe source.

“Death penalty,” was one opinion,and its speaker, District 3 trusteeWoodrowReece, was just as adamantin that it was undeserved.

“Beginning of resurgence,” saidMichael Getz, Beaumont city coun-cilmember and tenacious foe of theboard and itsmajority, all of whomnowwill be replacedwith a state-appointed board ofmanagers.

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BEAUMONT

REACTION, page 4A

New faces on BISD boardwouldn’t show up until June

This is notcelebratory.I wish it had

not come to this, butI think the commis-sioner had no choice.Now,we have togo through it, tryto unify and get it

behind us.”— State Rep. Joe Deshotel,

D-Beaumont

BEAUMONT ISD: WEIGHING IN ON THE TAKEOVER

I didn’t thinkwe should

get the ‘deathpenalty.’We’re not likeEl Paso or North For-est.Dr.Chargois wasstarting to put thingstogether. Some peoplein the last two yearswere hell-bent on

taking this board out.”— Woodrow Reece, District 3

trustee

I feel relievedin that therewill be people

coming in to take areal serious look at

what we have. Peopleare coming in whowill trust, but verify.In the past, we didn’thave verification.”

— Tom Neild, District 6 trustee

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! INSIDE: More reactions to the state takeover: 4A

OnMonday,Williams for-mallydismissed the sevenboardmembers andnamedFredShafer, currently themonitorfor thedistrict’s special educa-tiondepartment, as thedistrict’sconservator.

Shafer is “making sure thedistrict is doingwhatneeds tobedone to stayon trackandmak-ing requiredchanges andmak-ing sure theydon’t doanythingillegal or out of ordinary,” saidDeEttaCulbertson, spokesper-son for theTexasEducationAgency.

inside

Former Beaumont ISDfinance director Devin Mc-Craney, left, and comptrol-ler Sharika Allison enteredguilty pleas on Monday tofederal charges in connec-tion with embezzlement: 5A

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tion building, 3395HarrisonAve.Chargois said hewill allow the

board to consider its options,which include appealing the com-missioner’s decision.

“Fundamentally, there’s abelief that your sitting board andsuperintendent are passionatelyconcerned about the success ofour children,” Chargois said afterMonday’smeeting. “Until suchtimewe are not allowed to do that,per se, wewill do that.”

District 5 trusteeMikeNeil saidhewould ask his fellowboardmemberswhat purpose an appealwould serve.

“An appealwould be a com-pletewaste of time,” he said.

Also Inside

Conservator FredShafer — who is he?: 3A

A timeline of eventssurrounding BISD’swoes: 4A-5A