Mission school board picks new officers in split vote
The Mission school board voted 4-2 to elect new officers on May 26 after an awkwardly contentious transition of power on the board.
After much conversation, the board voted to name Natividad “Nati” Sosa as president, Abby Reyna as vice president and Victor O’Caña as secretary.
Humberto “Beto” Garza voted to nominate those individuals.
MCISD Team of 8 from left to right: Jerry Zamora, member; Humberto “Beto” Garza, member; Dolores “Loli” Reyna, member; Superintendent Dr. Chris King, Vice President Abby Reyna, Board President Natividad “Nati” Sosa, Secretary Victor O’Caña. Board member Iris Iglesias was not present.
Garza, O’Caña and Reyna are all freshmen on the board, elected this month and aligned with Sosa, so the board reorganization represents a fairly significant change in leadership.
The newcomers to board leadership didn’t achieve their new status easily.
First, outgoing School Board President Dolores “Loli” Reyna said a vote on reorganizing the board Tuesday should be delayed.
Trustee Iris “Coach” Iglesias wasn’t present for May 26th’s decision, and Dolores Reyna said a vote should be delayed until she was present.
“Proceeding with the leadership reorganization in the absence of one trustee risks creating unnecessary division and the appearance of exclusion or predetermined outcomes, even if that is not the intent,” Dolores Reyna said, reading from a prepared statement.
That message didn’t resonate with the board at large.
Jerry Zamora voted with Dolores Reyna to table reorganization, but nobody else did.
After that motion failed, the discussion turned into something that’s unusual for a board reorganization.
Essentially, the reorganization turned into an interview.
Dolores Reyna and Zamora questioned the qualifications of the new board members and the stances of Sosa.
Dolores Reyna and Zamora never actually said they thought the new officers were unqualified or that Sosa’s views are a problem, but nonetheless Sosa and the new board members were left — growing sometimes obviously frustrated — to defend their qualifications and stances.
For their part, the new trustees largely spoke about their previous experiences in the public or private sectors that make them qualified to run a school district.
Sosa faced questions aimed at what locally could be a political weak point.
A conservative who’s bucked the trend of many Rio Grande Valley school district trustees and backed school vouchers, Sosa favors a degree of fiscal austerity for school districts that most local trustees tend to blanche at.
Sosa had to defend that night her stance on Sharyland ISD’s failed bond and argue for how she would lead Mission CISD during a prospective bond push.
Despite the often thinly veiled hostility, there was a thread of cordiality that ran through the discussion, which ranged widely.
Dolores Reyna was repeatedly complimented for choosing to have the reorganization held in public, something the board didn’t do last time it chose officers.
Sosa said that dissension isn’t a bad thing.
The Mission school board has voted together on a large number of issues in the past couple of years, she noted.
“Do we go after and sing kumbaya at a fireside somewhere?” she said. “No we don’t. And we don’t need to do that. We need to work together here.”
Ultimately, none of the discussion mattered.
Sosa and the newcomers had the votes for the officer positions and would have theoretically have had them even if Iglesias had been present.
Votes were a central part of their defense.
The electorate voted to install the newcomers, Sosa said, and that means they deserve their say on the board regardless of how long they’ve served or what their stances are.
“It’s the will of the voters. And I want to remind that the community elected these individuals because they believed that they were ready to serve now,” she said.
If anything, the discussion mostly served to highlight likely divisions on the board.
Dolores Reyna, dithering over her vote at the end of the discussion, ultimately voted against supporting the new officer slate that included Abby Reyna.
“I think I will oppose, but I just want to let everyone know —,” Dolores Reyna started, before being interrupted by Abby Reyna.
“Thank you for your confidence,” Abby Reyna said.
