SAN ANTONIO – Edgewood ISD parents and community members held a press conference at the Alamo Colleges Westside Education & Training Center on Thursday, two days after a woman was arrested at a board meeting for exceeding her allotted time to talk.
According to a news advisory, parents and the MindShiftED Parent Institute will “deliver the testimonies they were denied at Tuesday’s school board meeting.”
On Tuesday, Edgewood ISD police arrested Maribel Gardea, the executive director of MindShiftED Parent Institute, after she spoke past her allotted time during public comments, according to footage from the meeting.
She was charged with criminal trespass, resisting arrest and interrupting a meeting or procession, records show.
“Parents were cut short, excluded from the speaking list, and intimidated when they attempted to raise concerns. The press conference will highlight these injustices and uplift the voices of families determined to be heard,” the advisory states.
In a statement to KSAT, Edgewood ISD Superintendent Eduardo Hernández said, in part:
“The individual’s actions were not in alignment with the EISD Board Operations Procedures and Code of Ethics, necessitating their removal. To ensure productive dialogue, we ask all participants to adhere to the established procedures and decorum that guide our board meetings.”
Telemundo spoke to Gardea when she left the Bexar County jail on Wednesday. She spoke in Spanish during that interview, which KSAT translated a small part of:
“I wanted parents to feel comfortable to voice their opinions, and then this happens,” she said. “A district that tries to silence the voices of families is criminal.”
MindShiftED is calling for three things from Edgewood ISD:
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A dismissal of all charges against Gardea
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An immediate independent investigation into what happened
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A formal meeting between the district, MindShiftED and Edgewood ISD parents
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