Edinburg CISD Board Takes Action To Fix Sewer Back-up Issues At Canterbury After Recent Rains
Arnoldo Mata
Edinburg, TX – The Edinburg CISD Board of Trustees took action at last night’s board meeting to prevent future episodes where sewer flow backs up at Canterbury Elementary. The action was spurred by an incident after recent heavy rains in the region.
During a presentation by Julie Perez, the district’s Director of Maintenance Operations, on maintenance project updates, the board focused on what actions have been taken to address the problems at Canterbury.
“The issue that happened with the overflow of sewage—we have cleaned that a couple of times already by a professional,” Perez explained. “We have installed 50 drain caps—that includes shower drains, mop sinks, and floor drains. So those are capped, meaning the sewage can’t come in from those drains. That protects us from major extra sewer water incidents. Now we do have a bigger permanent solution, and we’re working in collaboration with the city. We’re expediting a solution with that, and that will be presented in executive session.”
“I know that this has been a concern,” Trustee Xavier Salinas said. “I did talk to the superintendent about it to make it clear that our schools are responsible for academics. The city’s responsible for sewer and water. So when people want to blame the school, we’re not a sewer and water distribution center. We’re a curriculum center. So just to make it clear, we are only curriculum, that’s it. All this sewer and everything has to do with the city and their fixing of infrastructure concerns. And I know that you guys are working together to try to fix this. One time is one time too many because we’re the ones that get all the calls. To be around feces doesn’t smell very good, but it’s not a school problem, okay? Now we can be kind and say, ‘let’s help with a solution,’ because I know that we want to make it good for our kiddos, but at the end of the road, we’re a curriculum institution, not a sewer institution.”
“So the city needs to do their part to fix that problem and fix it quickly because storms and rain season are coming. And we can’t have our schools being backed up like this constantly. So I just want to make sure that I’m correct.”
Board President David Torres agreed, saying, “Yes, you are. You’re on point. So I’d just like to say that the executive committee last week went over there—Ms. Flores, Ms. Gonzalez, and myself. I invited them and Dr. Salinas. I’m the type of guy who likes to go and see it for myself. I know what I have to do. So, we saw that and we’re working on it. Obviously, it’s an extreme situation. It’s a lot of work that we have to deal with.”
“We’re working with the city. It’s about the solution. We’re being very nice about it. All the parents are pissed off. They’re not being very nice, and you don’t blame them because what happened is just plain out not good. We have our students there and I wouldn’t want my children—they don’t want their children—being around those situations.”
“So we’re working on that and everybody here is correct on that. Elevation is a problem. We saw it firsthand, just walking through there. It is just amazing how the school—the way it goes, the way it’s built—has changed through time. But the solutions that we brought forth at the facilities committee that you’re talking to with the city manager on our part—I think they’re going to help if it starts to happen again. It’s a very serious situation. We’re on it. We’re moving on it, and we just want to let the community know that we’re doing our best to work on it.”
Salinas suggested that the district work with the city to include the district’s costs in the repairs and cleanup after the storm in their requests to the governor for emergency response funds.
“The lines backed up at the city level, which caused us to spend this money. So, we need to make sure that those damages are reported in our report to make sure that we get fully reimbursed for any dollars that we spent on any sewer backup issue that’s not related to the school system,” Salinas said.
Trustee Dominga Vela stressed the need to take proactive measures to respond to future incidents, specifically pointing to the need to have pumps and hoses on campus in the case of future events.
“The instant it starts raining, don’t wait an hour or two. Get over there and start pumping the water somewhere.”
Torres said the facilities committee is working on developing active strategies to respond to future situations as soon as something happens.
Superintendent Mario Salinas explained that the staff is already working with the city to determine what the city can do to fix the problems with their system. He added that the district is also working on filing claims with its own insurance company.
At a later point in the meeting, the board approved competitive sealed bids for the gym addition and other improvements for Canterbury Elementary at a projected cost of $800,000.00. No details on the work or projected completion dates were provided during the public portion of the meeting, though the board did discuss the issue in executive session.