By Jason Clay Jansky

Kenedy school board members voted to censure one of themselves during their September 11 meeting last month.

Board members voted to officially reprimand board member Dwain Groff for violating a grievance resolution agreement between himself and school district secretary Irma Leal, according to draft minutes released by the Kenedy Independent School District.

The minutes did not state the reason for Groff’s censure, and several hours of discussion regarding the matter were held in closed session (the meeting started at 6:15 p.m. and didn’t end until 1 a.m. September 12).

Groff acknowledged both the reprimand and the agreement between himself and Leal during a phone interview two weeks after the meeting.

The agreement itself was signed August 8 last year and contains several stipulations. In it, both parties agreed to refrain from making negative statements about one another in public, both agreed to take any problems they have with one another to the superintendent, and both agreed to refrain from abusive behavior toward the other.

"We did have an agreement and what it amounted to is I wouldn’t talk to the lady," he said. "She doesn’t like me (because) I’ve never thought that position should be paid what it was paid. You don’t pay somebody that kind of money to do that kind of work."

Groff’s opinions on how the secretary’s position is paid have been the focus of several prior discussions between Kenedy school board members. Groff insisted that he didn’t do anything wrong, though.

"When you have a board like we have, it doesn’t matter. They do what they want," he said. "We weren’t even talking about her job, we were talking about the position, and it’s ridiculous to have somebody being paid $27 an hour to sit there and take notes. It’s stupid what it costs us. It’s nothing I haven’t said in open session before."

Board members Tony Mejia, Velma Garza, Frank Nieto, and Leo Valerio led the vote on reprimanding Groff. Edward Monson and Carl Lundquist both voted against the motion.

The minutes do not state the reasons for Groff’s reprimand, nor do they make mention of the prior agreement between he and Leal, though the censure is a public statement condemning Groff’s actions.

The censure does not carry with it any penalties or punishments beyond the public reprimand.

Groff stated during the interview that much of the discussion centered around an audio tape of a conversation, but the tape was not played in open session.