El Paso Matters – EPISD, Canutillo ISD trustees to interview superintendent candidates next week

The El Paso and Canutillo school districts could soon name their respective superintendent finalists as the districts’ school boards are set to interview candidates next week. 

The El Paso Independent School District board will conduct interviews Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 17-18, and will hold a second round of interviews in early December before selecting a finalist, board President Leah Hanany told El Paso Matters. EPISD could vote to name a finalist Dec. 8 and hire the candidate by Jan. 5, according to a schedule posted on the Texas Association of School Boards website.

In the Canutillo Independent School District, the board will conduct interviews Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 17, 19 and 20. Trustees will conduct follow-up interviews Dec. 1 and 2, select a finalist Dec. 9 and vote to hire the finalist Jan. 5, according to a schedule posted to the district’s website.

Under Texas law, school districts need to wait 21 days before officially hiring a superintendent to give the district time to negotiate the contract and run background checks.

The selected finalist in EPISD will replace former Superintendent Diana Sayavedra, who resigned in June under a voluntary separation agreement with the board. In Canutillo ISD, Superintendent Pedro Galaviz is retiring at year’s end after nearly 13 years at the helm of the district.

Sayavedra was paid a salary of $277,000 a year when she was first hired in 2022 and $320,000 a year before resigning in June. Galaviz made more than $207,000 a year when he submitted his retirement.

‘Strong pool of applicants’ at EPISD

While a finalist for EPISD is expected to be named in December, the language on the board agendas would allow trustees to select a finalist next week without holding additional interviews.

“The action item (Monday) to select five candidates to be asked to interview is an indication that the board felt there was a strong pool of applicants that met the criteria that the community was asking for,” Hanany said.

Hanany said the district received 21 applications for the position.

The board and the new superintendent will need to address declining enrollment and possible school closures, according to a report created by the Texas Association of School Boards. EPISD contracted the statewide nonprofit educational organization that supports school boards to conduct the superintendent search.

The new superintendent will also need to tackle the district’s aging infrastructure and lead the district through a bond election to improve outdated and broken air conditioning systems.

Sayavedra had a similar “rightsizing” expectation tied to her performance evaluation when she was hired in 2022. The board voted in February 2024 to remove rightsizing – adjusting class sizes, changing boundaries, consolidating and closing schools and implementing reductions in force as needed to address declining enrollment – as a metric in the evaluation. 

The former superintendent spearheaded a controversial plan to close several elementary schools over two years in response to declining enrollment and falling birth rates, known as Destination District Redesign, or DDR.

Hanany said the board will need to develop evaluation metrics for the new superintendent and a new strategic blueprint to guide the district.

“I anticipate that the board of trustees and whoever the new hires will undergo a new strategic planning process because of the expiration of the 2025 strategic plan,” Hanany said.

“There’s not going to be anything specific that a superintendent would be evaluated without the board having that discussion and those discussions happen publicly,” she added.

Diana Ramirez, an EPISD parent who spearheaded a community coalition against DDR, said the district should invest in community schools designed to serve their specific neighborhoods rather than looking at more potential closures.

“It is a fact that our student population is dwindling, but nowhere does it say that schools have to have a certain amount of students. I think we need to invest in good community schools, neighborhood schools that are walkable, that aren’t creating outrageous transportation problems that we see at EPISD because of the mass school closures from this year. Because school closures don’t actually save a lot of money that they’re saying they will,” Ramirez said.

Superintendent candidate profiles

Throughout October, EPISD held a series of sparsely attended community meetings and distributed online surveys, which garnered over 1,000 responses, to find out what parents, students, employees and residents want in a superintendent.

Respondents said they wanted someone bilingual, who is supportive of staff and a visionary leader with effective communication, according to a report posted to the district’s website.

Coach Wally Hartley PK-8 School teacher, Patricia Amezaga, said she wants the EPISD board to select a superintendent who is experienced, involved in the day-to-day operations of the district and accessible to the community.

“What I’d like to see is that (the board’s) done their homework, that the person that’s coming to us is going to be somebody who has a good track record from a similar-size district, that had struggling schools, and you’ve seen improvement,” Amezaga told El Paso Matters.

Ramirez said she wants EPISD’s next superintendent to focus on equity and closing the gaps between low- and high-performing schools.

“I want a superintendent who’s going to prioritize the most underserved kids in the EPISD boundary, because when you focus on the most underserved communities, you’re uplifting everybody,” Ramirez said.

Though she lives near Austin High School, Ramirez said her children attend higher performing schools in nearby neighborhoods.

“I don’t want to have to take my kids to another feeder pattern because the schools aren’t doing well, but right now I don’t have a choice. I’m not going to send my kids to an underperforming school, so I want a superintendent who’s going to look at why Austin High School is not performing well,” she said.

Canutillo ISD also held a series of community engagement meetings to get their perspective on the district’s next leader.

“Ultimately, they want a visionary leader that’s going to understand Canutillo and to understand the challenges that are that are facing us when, as far as finances and as far as budget, but also that understands that this is a school district that has thrived academically, and that needs to really continue that focus on academics,” said Canutillo ISD communications director Gustavo Reveles.

Canutillo ISD’s survey respondents said they want a superintendent who is financially savvy, with a proven academic track record and connected to Canutillo, according to TASB’s report.

The post EPISD, Canutillo ISD trustees to interview superintendent candidates next week appeared first on El Paso Matters.

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