ROBSTOWN — A candidate running for a seat on the Robstown Independent School Board of Trustees has been declared ineligible to run.
As 6 Investigates previously reported, Place 4 candidate Gilbert Cervantes is a five-time felon on parole until 2029.
When Cervantes submitted his application for a place on the ballot, he checked the box indicating he had not been convicted of a felony.
According to the Texas Election Code and Texas Education Code "a candidate for school board election must not have been finally convicted of a felony from which the person has not been pardoned or otherwise released."
Robstown ISD was notified of this potential issue with Cervantes's candidacy at the end of September.
Superintendent Marc Puig told 6 Investigates the district began to immediately investigate the issue and contacted Cervantes to provide documentation that he was eligible to run. That deadline, which was Friday, passed without any response from Cervantes.
Monday the school board received a briefing from the district's legal counsel. Board members also asked about procedures and if the district should have done anything differently.
The school's attorney reiterated the process and limitations to the district under the law. He said while school districts are required to run criminal background checks on employees, no district in Texas runs a criminal background check on a candidate for school board.
He also reviewed steps taken, including due process afforded to Cervantes, before recommending the district find him ineligible to run.
Following this briefing, Board President Lori Ann Flores-Garza spoke to trustees about the difficulty of the decision before the board.
"Running for a school board place is very taxing. I know that it's hard, I know that this is a tough one. We should be up here on the dais talking about education, kids, staff, raises, facilities, and instead we're here, I feel, with a large load on our shoulders," she told fellow trustees. "I'm not sure how this is even possible, we are not election administrators. We don't make the law, yet here we are with this in front of us. This is tough for me because I'm a mother and I believe in second chances. Just like we all do. When we heard the rumors, we ignored them, correct? Because we trusted the application was filled out correctly and honestly."
“Integrity is one of our core values, and because of that and because of what I stand for I make a motion to support (District legal counself) Mr. Cruz's recommendation on claiming Gilbert Cervantes ineligible to run for school board," she said.
The motion made by Flores-Garza passed unanimously.
The district will send notice of Cervantes's ineligibility to Nueces County Clerk Kara Sands today.
However, Sands has previously told 6 Investigates the deadline to remove him from the ballot has passed.
With Cervantes being ruled ineligible, any vote for him will not be counted in the election.
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