Pete Bernal, a former Southwest Independent School District trustee who was ousted in the last election, is accusing the current board of discrimination and defamation after the board’s vice president was caught on a hot microphone calling him a dope during an October board training session.
Ida Sudolcan apologized Monday for the comments during a hearing over an official complaint filed by Bernal, and the board agreed to conduct sensitivity training and to review policies on discrimination in response.
Bernal, who was elected to the board in 2020 but lost reelection in May, said he was the only audience member present at the special meeting on Oct. 24 in which board members and Superintendent Jeanette Ball were undergoing training as a team-building exercise.
During a break, a woman’s voice can be heard off-camera laughing.
“I know, he’s such a dope,” the voice said in the video, which is posted on YouTube. “He’s just on his phone … he’s not even paying attention.”
When watching the video to check his notes, Bernal said he was upset hearing the comments and later filed a formal complaint demanding an apology and laying out the ways in which the conduct was discriminatory and potentially defamatory.
Bernal said in his statement to the board and in an interview with the San Antonio Report that he was using his phone to take notes to refer to later, due to memory issues related to a traumatic brain injury, which he got while serving in the military.
The same woman’s voice can later be heard in the video discussing the conduct of board members in community settings, saying that trustees should be present in a “mature and respectful way … not jumping around like a dope.”
Bernal said this was likely in reference to the enthusiasm he shows when attending student sporting and other events.
It is not clear who else is speaking in the video.
In her apology, Sudolcan said she “exercised poor judgment in [her] choice of words when speaking about another individual.”
“While I had no intention on the comment being heard beyond the person I was having a conversation with, it nonetheless was heard,” she said. “As such, I publicly apologize for using the word dope in my conversation. I am disappointed in myself for using the term and very apologetic for the hurt I’ve caused.”
The trustee, who was first elected to the board in 2003, said she has sought out sensitivity training on her own to “remind [her] of the importance of always treating all individuals with respect.”
Sudolcan also said during the meeting that she has spent more than two decades working to advocate for the most vulnerable members of Southwest ISD.
“Together with the board and the administration, I’ve sought out programs to foster an inclusive environment,” she said. “And I apologize for not exercising that inclusivity myself.”
Bernal, who still has aspirations to return to the board, said the board’s actions didn’t go far enough.
“There’s still people on the board who should apologize, because it is not just one person but all the board,” he said. “Each one of them should acknowledge that what was done was wrong and they should’ve put a stop to [it.]”
Yolanda Garza-Lopez, the other trustee who was ousted in the May election in which less than 2,000 voters participated, also spoke at the hearing and provided a statement as part of the grievance process. In that statement, Garza-Lopez said that the comments at the October meeting were not isolated, but part of “severe and pervasive harassment on a continuous basis at the hands of multiple board members.”
“Not only is it wrong, it is contradictory for some board members to advocate for special education students and have personal experience with the learning disabled while at the same time discriminating against someone facing similar challenges,” she said. “This inconsistency highlights the importance of promoting inclusivity and understanding across multiple aspects of diversity, including cognitive differences.”
Sudolcan did not respond to an emailed request for comment Wednesday.
Bernal said the episode has put a damper on an otherwise momentous week in which he graduated from Texas A&M University-San Antonio with a bachelor’s degree in applied science.
But with the grievance hearing behind him, he is looking forward to what comes next.
“The next day it was time for me to celebrate with my family and my community,” he said. “Because it is not relevant to what we need to be celebrating.”
