The Mercedes ISD Board of Trustees engaged on Tuesday with the law firm Walsh Gallegos to conduct a personnel investigation into Harrell Middle School. Trustees still have not publicly said specifically what they want investigated, but all signs point to it being events surrounding the arrest of a district coach on sex abuse charges in 2021.
That coach, David Bryan Reyes, has since been indicted on two counts of indecency with child sexual contact, one count of sexual assault of a child and one count of improper relationship between educator and student.
Reyes is no longer a Mercedes ISD employee and has a January trial date set for his improper relationship charge. He pleaded not guilty to that charge earlier this year.
Trustees considered, but ultimately voted against, launching a probe into the district’s handling of the incident just after Reyes’ arrest in 2021.
Two board newcomers elected in November — Nancy Vallejo and Marcos J. Garcia IV — asked for the board to consider the investigation.
“We owe it to the families, to the students. And that is the reason that I put it up on the agenda, that I believe it should have been done from the very beginning,” Vallejo said Tuesday.
Garcia described student safety and accountability as significant concerns for voters in the district this election cycle.
“I believe, should we find a narrow scope to investigate, we’d be doing our due diligence to the families and to the community that elected us,” he said.
Javier De Anda, who was principal in 2021, left earlier this year for a job elsewhere, Interim Superintendent Richard Rivera said Monday. Yolanda E. Garcia subsequently led the campus as interim principal.
On Tuesday night, the board voted to name Mauro Tijerina as that campus’ permanent principal. Rivera said competition for the position was tight.
“So it was a very tough call for us,” he said.
Two trustees voted against naming Tijerina principal.
