McAllen school district continues superintendent search

 McALLEN - School Board members are considering going back to square one in their search for a new superintendent.

The McAllen School Board of Trustees has spent the past month discussing how it would conduct its search for a new superintendent after the district's current leader, Yolanda Chapa, announced her plans to retire at the end of the year. Chapa, who has served as the district's superintendent for about six years, agreed to stay on until the board hired someone new.

Board members agreed earlier to hire a consulting firm to find candidates rather than conduct a search themselves. The district sent out requests for proposals seeking information from firms. Seven replied.

But on Monday, the board decided to take a step back and weigh all their options once again.

After an hour-long discussion about how it would evaluate those proposals, members agreed to look over those requests to make sure their search is on the right track.

Board member Richard Moore said he was concerned about having an outside firm select candidates from which the board would choose and asked if it could reconsider having the district conduct its own search.

"We have one chance to do this right," Moore said.

But board member Javier Farias and others said they would rather have outside consultants conduct the search because it would put more work on district staff if they didn't.

The board plans to meet again on Oct. 6 to discuss what direction they want to take its search.

Jennifer L. Berghom covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4462.