Loweree's Credentials Questioned

Oh man, this is hilarious but also a pretty sad statement on EPISD.

Carlos Sierra's candidate for EPISD Trustee Mickey Loweree is having some of her credentials challenged and her re-election just became that much more difficult if true.

In a letter sent out yesterday by El Paso AFT Union Boss Ross Moore, some problematic statements by Trustee Loweree are being called into question.

Namely her assertion of being a former teacher in EPISD. The letter titled, OPEN LETTER TO DISTRICT 7 TRUSTEE - WE DESERVE INTEGRITY starts by outlining Trustee Loweree's assertion that she was a teacher in EPISD for 10 years. The assertion appears in Loweree's bio located on the EPISD website. 

Here's a screenshot of the page.

It clearly states she was a teacher in the district for a decade. 

Moore says that back in 2017 when she was up for the appointment to her current position that she told the AFT at that time that she had been a paraprofessional. 

I guess its technically possible for her to have been both a paraprofessional and a teacher. 

But Moore apparently checked it out to be sure. 

His letter states: 

"There is NO record with SBEC of Ms. Loweree having ANY kind of Texas Certification as a Paraprofessional or Teacher, active or inactive. We checked with all her names and combinations thereof, “No Record”...There are no records or memories of Ms. Loweree being a Teacher or Paraprofessional in EPISD at all, let alone for 10 years."

Moore's letter doesn't stop there. 

The AFT also decided to look into her education background to see if her assertion of a Bachelor's Degree was able to be verified.

Again, from their letter:

"Once Ms. Loweree’s claims in the first sentence were found to be false, we wondered if the Bachelors of Science (BS) Degree from UTEP claim was also false. We contacted UTEP to verify Graduation and Degree. UTEP’s response was “No Record” of either."

If it isn't already, this is going to be a news story. EPISD is too big of an institution under too much scrutiny right now for this not to be a story. 

And unfortunately for Trustee Loweree, she's in the position where she has to address the issue. If she was a teacher, paraprofessional, or employee of the district for a decade, all she has to do is produce something that shows she was and this goes away. 

But since AFT checked things out and were unable to verify her employment or even presence of a certification, she can't afford to not address the issue. 

"No comment" or "Unable to be reached for comment" simply won't solve the problem for her, although my suspicion is that is exactly what Sierra is gong to try to pull. I can't say I blame him if she wasn't a teacher or paraprofessional. 

The education thing should be even easier to prove. A degree, transcript, hell even a graduation selfie would help her at this point. 

But if any of the allegations that call Loweree's credentials into question turn out to be true, then she's in really big trouble. 

And honestly, I can't think of another time this has ever actually happened. 

But the ball is in her court now. Its all on her shoulders to either prove or disprove the allegations made by Ross Moore.