Mercedes trustees approve stipend pay for acting superintendent
Mercedes ISD Acting Superintendent Jeanne Venecia. Courtesy photo.
The Mercedes Independent School District Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to approve stipend pay for its acting superintendent and refrained from taking any action on the employment status of the district’s permanent superintendent, who appears to still be on leave.
The Mercedes board voted a little over three weeks ago to place Superintendent Maria Chavez on administrative leave with pay.
So far district leadership hasn’t commented on what prompted that decision.
Chavez works at the district under a two-year contract that runs through the end of this June.
That contract grants her a $215,000 annual salary, a $1,200 car stipend monthly and a $300 a month telephone allowance.
Trustees discussed behind closed doors in executive session Tuesday Chavez’s contract and employment status but took no action on that item.
The board did take action on the district’s current chief: Acting Superintendent Jeanne Venecia.
Trustees named Venecia, the district’s student services and college readiness director, as acting superintendent after placing Chavez on leave last month.
On Tuesday the board voted 5-1 to give Venecia $304.35 in stipend pay daily for serving in that role.
The board made that decision retroactive to the first day Venecia assumed the mantle of acting superintendent.
