Second-year SAISD Superintendent Jaime Aquino speaks bout proposed school closures during Monday’s board meeting. Credit: Michael Karlis

Two high-ranking administrators within San Antonio Independent School District have resigned following the district’s decision to cancel class this week over heating and plumbing issues at its campuses.

In an internal memo sent to staff Thursday and obtained by the Current, SAISD Superintendent Jaime Aquino said he accepted the resignations of Deputy Superintendent of Operations Ken Thompson and Chief of Operations Mike Eaton.

Senior Executive Director of Child Nutrition Services Jenny Arredondo will take charge of the district’s Operations Division in the interim, according to the document.

“We must admit that this was an error on the part of leaders in the district,” Aquino wrote. “We had a week to prepare. Our families count on us to be open, and we are obligated to be there for them.”

The resignations come after Aquino closed all SAISD schools Wednesday through at least the end of the week. The sudden closure was due to heating problems at 30 campuses, where classroom temperatures hovered between 40 and 50 degrees, according to media reports.

There’s still no guarantee all SAISD students will return to class Monday. “[W]e will open schools only where the staff on campus know that classrooms are ready for learning,” Aquino said in the memo.

Aquino also said that once SAISD resolves its operations problems, the district will publish a full report examining and summarizing the reasons for the failure.

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This article appears in Jan 10-23, 2024.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...