Resolution options still being considered for Edinburg CISD directors

June 1, 2023

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The Edinburg CISD administration building is seen in this undated photo. (Courtesy: Edinburg CISD/Facebook)

Even when we prevailed and the board accepted the decision, we still have some logistical problems that need to be worked out.

The Edinburg school district’s dispute with two directors the district’s board proposed for termination in January is not quite as neatly resolved as it seemed last week.

Zelda Martinez and Margarita Oyervides, respectively the district’s payroll and personnel director, prevailed against an effort to terminate them last Friday when the school board voted to accept a recommendation from a Texas Education Agency hearing officer that strongly sided with them and supported their reinstatement to their positions at the district or comparable ones.

The women were slated to return to work this week, however district spokesperson Lisa Ayala Hettler said Wednesday that they remain on paid administrative leave.

“Even when we prevailed and the board accepted the decision, we still have some logistical problems that need to be worked out,” Tony Conners, Martinez and Oyervides’ attorney, said.

The most obvious of those problems is that the district has new payroll and personnel directors.

The board voted to fill those positions earlier this year, after proposing Martinez and Oyervides for termination.

Conners noted that his clients occupied unique roles at the district; there’s not a lot of other comparable ones.

“We are appreciative that the administration and the board are trying to find a resolution and we’re hopeful that it gets taken care of,” he said. “Either they get reinstated to a position that they accept, or we work out some kind of deal.”

Trustees were primed to vote on a settlement agreement with Martinez and Oyervides last week that would have seen them retire, be paid through the end of June with one year of additional pay, given them a neutral reference from Superintendent Mario Salinas and have negative documents in their records segregated.

Before trustees voted, Oyervides said she’d like two years of additional pay instead of one. Shortly after, Martinez said she’d like two years as well.

That change preceded an executive session board conversation, after which they voted to accept the TEA recommendation.

We are appreciative that the administration and the board are trying to find a resolution and we’re hopeful that it gets taken care of. Either they get reinstated to a position that they accept, or we work out some kind of deal.

It’s not exactly clear what the next step will be for the district.

“I don’t have any particular insight as to what the board is going to do,” Conners said. “This could be resolved by some resolution within the administration or it may require board input. I’m not really sure at this point.”

The push to terminate Martinez and Oyervides began after administrators said they became aware of tens of thousands of dollars in extra pay they received from the district for work performed responding to a disastrous payroll system rollout in 2021.

Salinas, the superintendent, testified in May that the women lacked official approval for those payments and should have been terminated, though Martinez and Oyervides maintained their innocence throughout and said they’d acted diligently.

The TEA recommendation stoutly supported that assertion.

“Obviously they would prefer to go back to where they were before, but that may not be possible,” Conners said Wednesday. “Because they don’t have a guarantee of a particular position. So they wish this never happened. That they would have continued being the well-regarded, effective, successful employees that they were.”