The El Paso Independent School District Board of Trustees meeting to decide the future of Superintendent Diana Sayavedra is at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
During the special meeting, called by board President Leah Hanany, the board will discuss and take action “on Superintendent of Schools Duties and Responsibilities and Employment Status.”
The board will also decide whether to contract O’Hanlon, Demerath, & Castillo Attorneys at Law for undisclosed legal services.
The meeting comes just weeks after two of the four board members who supported Sayavedra lost their seats in the May 3 election, bringing major changes to a board that was divided over the superintendent’s recommendation to close eight elementary schools in response to declining enrollment.
Hanany and other board members who opposed the process used to close elementary schools and improve the ones that remained open — known as Destination District Redesign — have been critical of the metrics used to decide which campuses to shut down.
Since taking office, the 5-2 board majority voted to keep Lamar Elementary School open, reversing a previous board decision, and to limit Sayavedra’s ability to hire top administrators and high school principals without board approval.
Sayavedra was selected to serve as EPISD’s superintendent in late 2021 and started the job in January 2022. The previous school board voted last year to extend her contract through Jan. 25, 2029, with a $320,000 a year salary.
State law limits schools to paying one year of salary and benefits to a superintendent removed before the expiration of his or her contract, or risk paying a penalty for anything over that amount.
Sayavedra’s time with the district has been met with both praise and controversy.
She oversaw the opening of the county’s first public Montessori school, recommended forgoing employee pay raises to address a budget deficit, two years after pushing for one of the largest teacher pay raises in 2022.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The post EPISD board to consider future of Superintendent Diana Sayavedra appeared first on El Paso Matters.
Read: Read More