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Mercedes school board picks trio of valedictorians

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This article originally appeared in the May 17 edition of the Progress Times.   In a 4-2 vote Tuesday, the Mercedes ISD Board of Trustees picked three Mercedes High School students from the Class of 2024 to serve as valedictorians after discussing a grievance. Leah Adame, Miranda Aleman and Carina Rabel will all be the…

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McAllen school board may appoint replacement for Saldivar Tuesday

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The McAllen Independent School District Board of Trustees is planning on wasting no time in filling Sam Saldivar, Jr.’s board seat after he abruptly resigned without explanation this week. Trustees accepted Saldivar’s resignation Monday and plan to discuss applicants for Place 7 Tuesday. The deadline to submit your name for the spot is Friday at…

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Conservative book ban activists target Rio Grande Valley school districts

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At 3:27 p.m. last Friday, McAllen ISD Superintendent René Gutiérrez and then-Board President Debbie Crane Aliseda received a not-so-subtly threatening email with a demand: purge your schools’ libraries of 676 books or else. The threat was delivered by local representatives of Citizens Defending Freedom and the Remnant Alliance, associated conservative advocacy groups founded outside of…

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University paid UTRGV basketball coach $250,000 to resign

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This article originally appeared in the May 3 edition of the Progress Times. The University of Texas System agreed to pay former UTRGV Head Men’s Basketball Coach Matt Figger $250,000 to resign in March, according to an agreement obtained by the Progress Times through an open records request. Figger appears to have resigned while some…

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Mission CISD hires law firm to review superintendent’s contract

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The Mission school board voted Tuesday to hire supplemental legal counsel for special projects, chief among them reviewing Superintendent Carol G. Perez’s legally questionable decade-long contract. That contract, which runs through 2030, seems to blatantly violate a portion of the Texas Education Code that limits superintendents’ contracts to five years. The school district’s attorney, David…

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Saldivar to resign from McAllen school board

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Long-serving McAllen ISD School Board Trustee Sam Saldivar, Jr. plans to step off the board at the beginning of next month.   Saldivar penned a letter Thursday saying he plans to retire from the board on June 1.   The McAllen school board is slated to discuss his resignation Monday.   Saldivar didn’t respond to…

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Mission tentatively OKs firefighter union agreement

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The city of Mission tentatively signed off on a 10-article meet and confer agreement with Mission Fire Fighters Association Local 3609 Thursday. Many of the articles in the agreement relate to the city’s new in-house EMS program, laying out rules for things like staffing, medic hiring and certification, EMS training and pay. The agreement also…

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Mercedes trustees approve stipend pay for acting superintendent

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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…

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Mission hires new finance director

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The city of Mission hired Vidal Roman as its new finance director this week. The city’s been without a finance director since April 9 when Angie Vela resigned from the position “in lieu of termination” so she could keep her unemployment benefits. Roman, an Elsa resident, said he interviewed for the job Monday and received…

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