McAllen ISD celebrated renaming its boardroom in honor of longtime educator Ricardo Chapa Wednesday evening.
The district’s board approved naming the room after Chapa in October.
Wednesday’s proceedings were some of the most ceremonious the room has seen in recent years, with formal attire and a bevy of speakers and no shortage of emotion.
There was a poster unveiling and a ribbon cutting, and quite a bit of posing for pictures.
It was an awful lot of pomp and circumstance for the renaming of but one room in a district that contains thousands of rooms.
All of that fuss, speakers said, was absolutely warranted and appropriate.
Chapa, they said, spent a good deal of time in that room promoting success in all of the classrooms and offices and gyms that compose the district.
“A lot of important decisions are made in this room, so it’s only befitting that it’s named after a great man,” Superintendent J.A. Gonzalez said. “And when I think of Dr. Chapa he wasn’t only a friend of mine, he was a mentor.”
That mentorship was based on a 91-year life that included an active military career, decades of work as a teacher and administrator, and service on the district’s board.
Chapa is believed to be the only person to have served at times as interim superintendent of MISD and as board president.
The honor was tinged by tragedy; Chapa died in October, a week before the board formally voted to rename the room after him.
The night before he died, his daughter Tricia said Wednesday, Chapa was told the room would be named after him.
“Ricardo was a man of faith, community and his sense of humor was always a delight,” she said. “He was a rule follower, but with an open mind. He was always willing to listen and make a decision that was right for all.”
Only a small sum of the district’s students will ever visit the Chapa boardroom, and it’s entirely possible guests will pass by his plaque without reading it.
Still, Board President Sam Saldivar said, anyone paying attention to a board meeting will be compelled to remember Chapa.
The board vocally announces its meeting place when it calls any meeting to order, he said. That meeting place will now be announced as the “Dr. Ricardo Chapa Board Room.”
That reminder of Chapa’s legacy, Saldivar imparted, is well deserved.
“Dr. Chapa made exceptional contributions locally and elsewhere, distinguishing himself in education, service to the district and institutions of higher education,” he said. “Dr. Chapa exemplified qualities and serves as a model of excellence to students and others who actively engaged with him in lively discussions, either as a community and civic leader, a teacher, an administrator and as a school trustee.”
RELATED READING:
‘He was quite a person’: McAllen ISD renames boardroom after Ricardo Chapa, longtime educator
