This is your weekly news roundup, which takes a quick look at some developments in government, politics, education, environment and other topics across El Paso.
SISD extends superintendent search
The Socorro Independent School District’s search for a new superintendent is being extended until after holding a series of meetings to hear what the community wants for the district’s new leader.
The SISD school board was initially expected to vote on a new superintendent as early as August, said officials from the Texas Association of School Boards, the nonprofit organization contracted to conduct the search.
Now, Texas Education Agency conservators overseeing the district say it is trying to figure out the best time to hold the community meetings.
“Because of the intersession and now the holidays coming up, the board said, ‘Look, we don’t want to do this unless we get enough people coming to each feeder pattern to give us feedback on that,’” conservator Michael Hinojosa told El Paso Matters.
“We want to make sure that there’s ample opportunities for taxpayers as well as students, staff members and parents, to be able to interact and provide feedback about the candidate in terms of the type of leader they would like to see going forward,” conservator Andrew Kim said.
SISD has gone without an official leader since March when former Superintendent Nate Carman was placed on administrative leave for awarding contracts to a company he had previously done business with.
James Vasquez was appointed as acting superintendent in April as the district began the search for a new superintendent. The board voted to extend Vasquez’s agreement to serve as acting superintendent in August.
The conservators said they don’t have a timeline for when a new superintendent will be selected.
“Once we get all the direct feedback, I think there will be some dates and time set aside for the actual interview process,” Kim said.
Both conservators also said they have spoken to several interested candidates and TASB is continuing to receive applications for the position.
Community Meeting on Montwood Drive Extension
The city of El Paso is hosting a community meeting to inform the public about the planned Montwood Drive extension at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, at Esperanza Acosta Moreno Library, 12480 Pebble Hills Blvd.
The $16.7 million project on the Far Eastside – which will extend Montwood from Tierra Este Road to Rich Beem Boulevard – is part of the community progress bond approved by voters in 2022.
The western stretch of Montwood now ends just west of Tierra Este east of Loop 375, an area with high-traffic congestion.
The 1.3-mile extension includes building a four-lane, divided roadway with sidewalks and parkways, bike lanes, median landscape and lighting. It also includes creating ponding areas and installing water and sanitary sewer lines.
City officials said the work is expected to begin in “early” fiscal year 2026, which begins in September 2025. The project is still in the design phase.
The extension is in conjunction with the county of El Paso, which managed the design of the project, while the city is responsible for its construction. The Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority earlier this year was contracted to acquire some parcels of land that also had to be annexed for the right-of-way to accommodate the street’s extension.
Texas’ Abortion Ban Could Worsen OB-GYN Shortage, Study Shows
One in five OB-GYNs in Texas have considered leaving the state and 13% plan to retire early because of Texas’s restrictive abortion laws, according to a survey released Tuesday. The survey, conducted by health care consulting firm Manatt Health, collected responses from 450 practicing doctors and 47 medical residents.
Texas makes it illegal for doctors to terminate a pregnancy unless the mother’s life is in danger or if they can prove it’s a non-viable pregnancy, cases where the fetus has no chance of survival. But OB-GYN residents are leaving Texas to get clinical abortion training and women in Texas are still reporting delayed or denied care for non-viable pregnancies, putting their lives in danger.
Some abortion providers have already left Texas, such as Dr. Alain Braid, who moved his Alamo Women’s Clinic from San Antonio to Albuquerque.
El Pasoans can travel to neighboring New Mexico for abortions and obtain misoprostol, the pill for early pregnancy loss or termination, without a prescription in Mexico. But El Paso physicians cannot refer their patients to a clinic because Texas criminalizes anyone who assists someone in getting an abortion.
In 2022, following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, OB-GYNs in El Paso said Texas’ abortion laws negatively impacted their work and obstructed care for their patients who were experiencing miscarriages and risky pregnancies.
Nurses Ratify New Contracts at Two El Paso Hospitals
Registered nurses at Las Palmas and Del Sol medical centers voted in favor of new, three-year contracts. Labor union National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United represents 850 nurses combined at the two medical centers.
“We won measures that are going to make our hospitals safer places with better care for our patients,” said Julianita Garcia, RN in the post-anesthesia care unit at Del Sol Medical Center, in a news release.
Provisions in the contracts include a staffing program that will allow nurses to take their meal and rest breaks during their shifts, restrictions on management’s ability to reduce staffing on shifts and wage increases to improve retention and recruitment. Some nurses will get up to a 25% bump in pay over the contract period.
City Awards Contract for Sean Haggerty Drive Extension
The City Council on Tuesday awarded a $26 million contract to Jordan Foster Construction LLC for the Sean Haggerty Drive extension in Northeast El Paso.
The extension will go from Sean Haggerty Drive from Nathan Bay Drive to Dyer Street to improve traffic flow in the area.
The work includes the construction of a new four-lane bridge, pedestrian walkways, bicycle lanes, decorative street lighting, a canopy bridge structure and drainage structures.
The complete street will have asphalt, bike lanes, ADA compliant sidewalks, landscaping, street trees and dark sky compliant street lighting.
Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2025 and be completed in fall 2026.
The post SISD extends superintendent search; Montwood, Sean Haggerty road extensions move forward appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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