All three trustees up for reelection on the Mission CISD board are facing a challenger seeking to take their seat away on May 7.
The current board’s vice president, Veronica R. Mendoza, is attempting to fend off Amanda Y. Salinas O’Cana from snatching away her seat. Meanwhile, Place 6 incumbent Petra B. Ramirez and Place 7 incumbent Hermina R. “Minnie” Rodgers are both facing a single opponent running for their spots.
O’Cana, who’s running against Mendoza for the Place 1 spot, is a senior solutions consultant with Everbridge, a global software company.
O’Cana, whose children attend Mission CISD, said her son fell behind academically during the pandemic and she had to work to get him the educational support he needed. She said that experience, and watching the pandemic’s impact on the entire educational system, inspired her to run for a seat on the board.
“The impact that the pandemic has had on not just the students, the staff, administrators, parents as well, has changed the way that schools operate,” she said. “Understandably the pandemic did change everything, and people were just thinking on the fly, trying to come up with different solutions. And I want to be a part of that.”
Experience working with the district and the city, O’Cana says, qualifies her for a spot on the board. She has previously been involved with PTO at Mission CISD and been a participant in the school health advisory council for the last three years, along with being the chairwoman for the Mission redevelopment authority and the tax increment reinvestment zone.
“So thinking financially, its impact. I think that qualifies me as well,” she said.
If elected, O’Cana said her top priority will be working on ways to prepare staff to teach children successfully and continuing to grapple with problems caused by the pandemic.
“That really stems from the gap of the pandemic, and trying to bring that gap a little bit closer. Children are really expected to keep up with learning, and it’s really difficult at this time. So trying to come up with positive solutions is important,” she said. “I know a lot of kids may be leaving, and really understanding why is important. I’m more of a data kind of person, so I’d like to see the numbers and move from there.”
Place 1 incumbent and O’Cana’s opponent, Veronica Mendoza, did not respond to multiple attempts to reach her for this story.
The challenger for the Place 7 seat, Juan C. “JC” Avila, also did not respond to requests for comment by presstime. Her opponent and the Place 7 incumbent, Minnie Rodgers, did however.
Rodgers, a retired educator who taught high school for 39 years in Mission and one in McAllen, said that experience, along with her eight years on the board, make her the best choice for the post.
“The experience that I have had the last eight years has been phenomenal. So much has happened,” she said. “In the past four years, we have been the board of the year for Region One. It has never happened in Mission, all these years. We became one of the top five boards in the state of Texas. So a lot of things that we’re doing are helping to move and make sure that the kids are successful.”
During her tenure, Rodgers said, the board has made strides at the district, including sparking more parent involvement and fixing inefficiencies and miscommunications that bogged down administrative work at the district. Making that progress, she said, inspired her to run for another term.
“There were things that were not gelling,” she said. “Like 10 people needed to sign a purchase order, which is ridiculous; it does not happen now… Those little things, that amounted to a lot really, gave me that desire.”
Attendance levels and getting students to return to campus in the wake of the pandemic has been a problem at many Rio Grande Valley districts. Rodgers says if reelected, she sees that being the first priority on her agenda.
“Attendance more than anything is really killing us…” she said. “I think things are getting better, I can see that. We’re doing summer school. We need to do block walks. We need to show these kids they need to get an education.”
Meanwhile, neither Place 6 incumbent Petra B. Ramirez or her challenger Dolores “Loli” Reyna responded to requests for comment about their races by presstime.
