ECISD Board Hires Austin Consultants To Review Gun Incident Response
Arnoldo Mata
Edinburg TX – The Edinburg CISD Board of Trustees agreed to hire an Austin-based consultant firm and a local investigator to work with the district’s legal counsel to review the actions and protocols followed by district staff during a gun incident at Edinburg North High School earlier this month.
During last night’s regular board meeting, the Board took the action after a lengthy closed door session. The need to have an outside investigation came during last week’s emergency meeting during which the Board voted to reprimand and temporarily placed Superintendent Mario Salinas on a five-day leave. During that meeting, Trustee Dominga Vela urged the Board to bring in an outside firm to review the incident despite the district’s own internal investigation.
At this week’s meeting, the Board voted to approve hiring the firm of MoakCasey to work with Edinburg CISD attorney Benjamin Castillo and a local investigator to review the incident and report back to the Board. MoakCasey will charge the district $350 per hour with a limit of $15,000 to $20,000.
No date was set for when the report would be provided to the Board nor whether the report would be made public.
The Board also voted to lease or acquire a piece of land located adjacent to Edinburg North High Schools. The specific lot to be acquired was not identified in the public section.
In personnel matters, the Board voted to hire Maribel Guadalupe de la Rosa as Dean of instruction for Economedes High School. Staff informed the Board that there will be a hiring pause for some positions until more detailed information is provided by the state on funding for the next academic year.
In other business, Freddy Martinez, director for PIEMS and Pupil Accounting, presented the district enrollment counts. As of Friday, May 23rd, 2025, enrollments was 32,683 students reflecting a decrease of 618 students compared to the same instructional day as last school year. Elementary schools had a combined total of 16,495 students, which reflects a decrease of 303. Secondary schools had a combined total of 16,188 students, which reflects a decrease of 315 students.