The board is gonna look at all options. We’re gonna look at the direction the board or the majority of the board wants to go.
The Mercedes school board voted Wednesday to take no action on its superintendent search or applications for the position.
Mercedes has had two interim superintendents since police arrested superintendent Carolyn Mendiola and removed her from her post in the summer of 2022. She denies the charges.
The board selected their current interim — Maria J. Chavez — after former interim Richard Rivera left the district to helm Weslaco ISD following a board vote against naming him permanent superintendent that he viewed as a snub.
Mercedes ISD has been looking for a new permanent superintendent since Chavez signed on with the district in January.
“We’re looking at applications and we’re trying to find the best applicant for the superintendency of Mercedes,” Board President Oscar Hernandez told The Monitor.
After a lengthy executive session at a special meeting Wednesday, the board declined to take any action on its search.
They did not discuss the search or applicants in public.
“The board is gonna look at all options,” Hernandez said after the meeting. “We’re gonna look at the direction the board or the majority of the board wants to go.”
Hernandez says the post is now closed to applicants, but that the board is weighing a strong pool of candidates.
“We had quite a bit, we had a collection of applicants. Really strong applicants,” he said.
Whichever applicant gets the job will face the task of reestablishing firm leadership of the district and rehabilitating Mercedes ISD’s reputation.
Mercedes ISD faced a number of scandals over the past two years.
Even before Mendiola’s arrest and departure, an often divided board usually left the district conflicted on vital issues.
At the same time, Mercedes ISD has endured the arrests of several employees on a variety of charges, one of which sparked an apparently ongoing personnel investigation, along with significant financial and facilities issues.
