001Right. That's 81. We reopen to regular session at this time. Uh we have to go there's no item or B. We're going to move on to C. All right. I want a mic. Everyone can hear me well. Give the lawyer a chance to explain all the questions you had. It will be answered, but if you have another question, please wait while the water is being added. So I'm going to speak in both English and Spanish, and I'm going to be moving between the two languages to ensure that everyone understands a little bit of what I'm going to talk about in this topic. I am going to ask you in advance to give me the opportunity to explain everything in order to provide the greatest clarity to the questions you have had since the events occurred.
002Give me the opportunity address with you. Let me start off by saying that kids are here today unconditional support of the administration, the board and even myself. I'maring shirt today solidarity with also hurt for what happens to all. to the parents and everyone. I want you to know that on behalf of everyone here in the administration, the board, and even myself, that team has all the support that can be given, and we are unconditionally here to help them and do what we can within the bounds of the law regarding what has happened. But it's important to understand how we got here and why we're here at this moment. My grandfather used to say that when someone does well, many people are envious, and that envy is sometimes at the heart of what happens to many
003people, and that is indeed what has happened here. When this team starts playing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 29, 30 games without losing, envy inevitably arises . Okay. So, there's envy in a team who has this kind of record and at the heart of this I think that's where it stems from dates and understand what's going on. All the way back to March 18th of 2025 this year. March 18th of 2025. On March 18, the UIL Executive Committee, which is the league that manages high school teams in the state of Texas, began receiving anonymous complaints about the team, raising accusations against the team and the students about their eligibility, their status here at the school, where they live, their residence. and many accusations. Ules. When these complaints come to the forefront, the UL League takes
004charge of being the investigative branch of these complaints to ensure that within the league all participating teams are in compliance with what the law dictates. according to student and team eligibility. And so UL by law has to investigate these types of claims. Mexico. The valley is unfortunately more susceptible to these types of complaints because of our proximity to Mexico. Schools and districts such as McAlen, Bronzeville, La Joya, Hidalgo, and Valley View have all had to deal with issues of this kind. March all the way April, from March 18 to April 2. Me, and no, I'm not a school lawyer. Working with the administration, we were working very hard and very strongly against those accusations. 18 through April your administration myself were working tirelessly against these accusations to protect the team to make sure they state
005their plan. We went through these allegations reviewing pages of documentation, student files, residency files, and investigations from previous schools. You name it, after seeing almost 1000 documents, after seeing enrollments, when they arrived, when they left, where they come from, where they live, who they are with, where they have played before, and everything. We were able to finally put the issue to rest and on April 2 in the afternoon the evening informed me that team was ready to go. They wish good luck to the team and said that they are ready to play and alligibility has been clear. On the afternoon of April 2nd , the state called me to tell me that the team was eligible to compete, that nothing was wrong, that everything was fine, that everything was in order and that we did
006n't have to worry about anything. They even wished them good luck. Two matters remained pending . Which is it? We were informed that those two issues would not impact their eligibility to play on Friday, and those two matters were left pending; they would be worked on and processed in the coming months. would have no bearing on the team's ability to play on the third on Friday. So on Friday evening I called Mr. Coronado and I told him after almost three weeks of fighting U to go we won. We defended the kids we got it. And I spoke to Mr. Coronado on Thursday night to tell him that we had already beaten UL. We've already taken everything away from them, we answered all their complaints, we're doing well and they wished us good luck. On Friday
007we all started going to Antonio's, okay? And the final word from the state is that everything was fine. Okay. Everyone goes up there on Friday and the state tells us okay to play. On Friday at 10:06 pm, the same man who told us we were fine called me to tell me that you know what, there really is a problem with one of your students. That's until 1 p.m. on Friday. Friday from the same people. Final hours before the game, the game was scheduled to start at 7. We were 6 hours away from the game, and I explained and asked the superintendent, "Send me what you have so I can review it, because my intention is not to let this go, we're going to fight so they can compete." I asked him to send me everything
008so I could look at it and see what they were alleging and what the issue was. It wasn't until 2:06 p.m. that I finally received everything in writing, 2:06 p.m., to defend this student's eligibility. Until that point, and at 2:00 p.m., the superintendent finally sent me the documents and files I requested to review in order to defend this student's eligibility. Until 2:00 p.m., nobody knew what was happening except me and the superintendent. And with good reason, because the focus was on ensuring they weren't worried and went to play a stressed game because of what was going on . And so, in an effort to make sure that the focus remains on the kids, we're trying to take care of everything on our end. And make sure we're able to address everything at 2:00 or 3:20
009as we keep working through this. I have legal working on this, and we're researching laws, we're researching eligibility, we're going through cases, and we're going through laws and getting ready to defend this. Okay. At 3:20, we have the first conference call with UIL, and finally with the superintendent, myself, and UIL. At 3:20, finally, after an hour of reviewing laws, reviewing cases, reviewing the U Constitution, reviewing everything we can to be able to defend ourselves, at 3:20 we had a conference call with the superintendent, myself, and UE. U wanted to tell us on the phone line that they didn't think a student was eligible, and that if that student wasn't eligible, we couldn't continue with the game. Respectfully, I told them, you don't have the authority to cancel the game because the only ones who can
010cancel the game aren't a person on the phone, it's the state committee. So I told them we could n't start debating and going Back and forth on the interpretation of rules. At that time, we started arguing about the interpretation of a certain rule. This is where the issue gets more legal than anything else, okay? Because we're fighting for a student's eligibility under a particular rule. So we're fighting one student's eligibility under one specific rule. So we're trying to work through this point. Up until 4:00 p.m., there was no meeting with the state committee that said they were going to have a meeting. It wasn't until 4:36 p.m. that the state put out its meeting agenda, announcing that they were going to have a meeting. We're 1 hour and 20 minutes away from the game. At
011that time, at 4:36, when we started dealing with the issue, we were fighting for the student's eligibility, defending the team, and trying to ensure that the game wouldn't be canceled. We're trying to make sure we can establish eligibility so that the meeting doesn't take place and the game goes on for the kids. At 4:36, we started working with our law firm, trying to get a judge's order stating that the board couldn't proceed so they couldn't stop the game. But as I explained, that was at 4:36 in the afternoon when we received the notification. The court offices close at 5:00 PM, and it was already 4:40. You can't believe those people are working there on a Friday. No, there was nobody at 4:40 in the afternoon on a Friday that we could get anything to get
012a judge to sign a TR (Trial Report) on the meeting. People were already leaving the office. They were home. There's no one to process our filing before 5:00. At 5:00, we're in mode to defend the district and defend the students. And while we're getting ready for the 6:00 hearing, we start getting ready. Documents, paperwork, information from the students, getting the students with us to talk to and work with. Okay, at that time we started preparing, to continue... We're getting ready for the meeting at 6 p.m. As of now, at 5 p.m., there's still no decision that the team won't play. Okay, we're starting to work on the issue, working on the documents, the paperwork, the legal cases, everything you can imagine, talking to the student, gathering information to prepare for 6 p.m. Unfortunately, the League's
013Constitution requires and is very much against the accused. Okay. The best way I can explain it is that I can file an anonymous complaint with UL about a player. I'm going to take that complaint and...