McALLEN — Trustees of the McAllen Independent School District started the process of renaming its board room at the administration building at its Aug. 9 meeting.
The board voted to do so after several community members voiced their support for renaming something at the district after longtime McAllen educator Ricardo Chapa.
Trustee Marco Suarez obliquely referenced that support before the board voted its intent to rename the room.
“I know there’s several people here who have come to speak on behalf of a certain individual,” Suarez said. “And I know I’ve received phone calls, as everyone on the board has received phone calls. And if it was as easy as just to snap our fingers and name it after someone that you so desire, and I think that’s well-deserved, it would’ve been done weeks ago. But there is a process, and sometimes that process takes longer than people would like for it to take.”
Suarez said he wasn’t aware of any trustees saying they opposed naming the room after “a certain individual,” or that there were any opposed to looking into doing so.
“So, your voices — everyone here who has spoken for a certain individual or has called us — your voice has been heard and we are following with the procedure,” he said.
As part of that procedure, the community will be invited to submit nominations to Superintendent J.A. Gonzalez until no less than 30 days before the board takes any action on the name.
The district advertised for those nominations in the Aug. 15 issue of The Monitor.
The board can appoint a citizens committee to accept, review and recommend nominees, although the final decision on the name will lie with the board.
A unanimous vote by trustees is required to approve renaming anything after a living person. Naming something after a dead person only requires a majority vote under McAllen ISD policy.
Chapa, the man several public commenters supported honoring at the meeting, served in Korea with the military and was wounded by a gunshot wound to his leg.
After a decades-long career with the district serving as a teacher, principal and interim-superintendent, Chapa returned to the district after being elected as a board trustee.
“Dr. Chapa is a man who is highly respected by the McAllen community and in the field of education,” retired educator and McAllen citizen Lydia Saavedra told the board. “He is a man of integrity, honesty and reliability. He is a man of strong conviction who is not only respected, but respectful of all people.”
Eugene Gutierrez, a veteran who addressed the board in uniform, said he was the McAllen ISD principal who hired Chapa as a teacher when he began his educational career.
“Ever since I met Richard, he’s one of the greatest persons, socially, religiously and a very good person when you need help,” he said. “Dr. Chapa really went from the bottom of the ring of education to the top.”
