Romance Knocks ECISD Board Meeting Back One Day
EDINBURG, TX – February 13, 2023
The Edinburg CISD Board of Trustees will hold a special called meeting on Wednesday, February 15, 2023. Presumably, the meeting is being held in place of what would have been the regular meeting date, Tuesday, February 14, Valentine’s Day.
While no explanation was provided when the agenda was posted last week about why the meeting was not held on the second Tuesday of the month as customary for ECISD, romance trumped government operations for one day.
The agenda for the special called meeting lists, among other things, discussions about the Board’s previously approved renewal/extension of the Superintendent Dr. Mario H. Salinas’ contract. The item is set for discussion in executive session as “Discussion and Possible Action Concerning Superintendent’s Contract.” The item is listed for possible action once the Board returns to open session.
Salinas’ contract was renewed at the January 24, 2023 Board of Trustees meeting. The details of what the board approved were not completely clear as no specifics were provided during the public portion of the meeting after the end of the executive session. During the open session, Dr. Salinas introduced the item as, “consideration of and possible action regarding the evaluation, contact and compensation for the Superintendent of Schools.” There was a motion and a second, and the item was quickly approved. However, neither the motion nor any discussion explained whether there was an evaluation, whether the contract was renewed or extended or for what length of time, or whether the superintendent’s compensation was adjusted.
In other business, the Board will discuss the proposed school colors, mascot and logo for the new Collegiate High School the district is working on with The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
As previously reported by The Edinburg Advocate, school staff were reviewing findings from a state-mandated intruder detection audit. Staff had previously shared results from the audit with the Board of Trustees at their January 10, 2023 meeting in executive session. The Edinburg CISD Safety and Security Committee then met on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, to review the Campus Intruder Detection Audit Report findings for Canterbury Elementary and Esparza Elementary. The Committee went into executive session to discuss the details of the report.
For this week’s ECISD board meeting, the item is listed for discussion in open session.
In other personnel discussions, the Board will discuss the hiring of a Testing Facilitator for Edinburg High School and the Offensive Coordinator for Johnny Economedes High School.
Most recently, Dr. Salinas served as the ECISD Assistant Superintendent for Student Support Services. In that position, he managed all aspects of the district’s operations since 2005. He also supervised several departments, including health services, police, child nutrition, transportation, maintenance and operations, facilities, social services, athletics, and fine arts.
Before being named an assistant superintendent, Salinas was a science teacher, head varsity basketball coach, and assistant principal at Edinburg North High School. He also served as principal at Edinburg North High School for almost 10 years.
He received his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree in educational administration, and his doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Texas-Pan American.