In a due process hearing Tuesday, Edinburg school district Superintendent Mario Salinas alleged two former administrators essentially stole upward of $57,000 in taxpayer dollars.
By failing to receive supervisor authorization for the payments, the superintendent alleged, the salaried employees were improperly compensated for extra work completed while responding to a payroll fiasco during the 2021-2022 school year, a claim rebuffed by their attorney.
Neither side disputes the fact that those employees — Human Resources Director Margarita Oyervides and Payroll Director Zelda Martinez — worked hard to mitigate a payroll crisis precipitated by a system change in the summer of 2021.
They do, however, dispute how Martinez and Oyervides were paid for that work and how they’ve been treated since district leadership learned of that pay.
The district placed both women on leave in December, and the ECISD Board of Trustees voted in January to propose their termination. The board has also voted to name new individuals to the payroll and human resources director posts.
Describing his clients as long-serving competent employees before a Texas Education Agency-appointed independent examiner Tuesday, attorney Tony Conners said his clients have been grievously mistreated.
“Instead they should be honored and appreciated, rather than vilified and prosecuted,” he said.
Two individuals testified Monday: Mario Salinas and Assistant Superintendent for Finance & Operations Rene Salinas. Martinez and Oyervides are expected to testify tomorrow.
Citing unsigned time sheets and pay stubs, the district witnesses and their legal counsel clung to one central tenant Monday: that the women had never been authorized to pay themselves extra money by their supervisor.
“The evidence will show that it was not authorized under district policy. It was not authorized by the superintendent. It was not authorized by anyone in authority in the district to make such an authorization,” district attorney Kevin O’Hanlon said.
At the time, Mario Salinas said he would have been their supervisor and that he approved no additional compensation, adding that salaried leadership at the central office routinely work more than an eight-hour day without getting paid extra for it.
Regularly, Martinez and Oyervides would report to an intermediary, the role currently held by Rene Salinas. That position was unfilled during the fiasco; Rene Salinas only gained his position last summer.
At the time, Jesse Muniz, employed for a little over a year as a consultant, generally served as liaison between the district’s board and administration during the fiasco’s remediation. Muniz was not, however, the supervisor of Martinez and Oyervides.
“Zelda (Martinez) is more of an expert on the payroll system than Jesse,” he said.
Citing unsigned time sheets and pay stubs, the district witnesses and their legal counsel clung to one central tenant Monday: that the women had never been authorized to pay themselves extra money by their supervisor.
It’s not clear whether Muniz will testify in the hearings.
Conners peppered the witnesses with questions about district local and legal policy, asking about their communication with the women on the allegations against them, which ceased after they were placed on leave.
He also pointed out that the payroll snafu was an unexpected contingency — like a natural disaster — that the district could not have anticipated when setting Martinez and Oyervides’ salaries.
Rene Salinas’ testimony particularly shed light on how he says administration learned of the extra payments, which he said was around $41,000 for Martinez and $17,000 for Oyervides.
An effort to review potential cost savings measures related to overtime in expectations of federal pandemic Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds drying up prompted the unintentional discovery of those payments last semester, he said.
“I was surprised to see the compensation for overtime pay for those months,” he said.
Rene Salinas said he first discovered those payments in September of last year and brought his concerns to Mario Salinas, the superintendent. A months-long investigation, Rene Salinas said, precipitated the women being placed on leave in December.
Conners pushed Rene Salinas on whether he felt that process was “fair and just.”
Rene Salinas would only say he felt it was “thorough.”
Mario Salinas acknowledged that the district sought not to recoup either the money paid to Martinez and Oyervides or significantly smaller payments for additional work to subordinates of Martinez who have not been placed on leave.
He said he felt that by receiving additional pay without express supervisor permission, the women had cheated the district.
“The fact that they paid themselves, I believe they were dishonest,” he said.
Read the latest update here:
Focus shifts toward Muniz in Edinburg CISD extra pay hearing
