(Seguin) — The Seguin ISD Board of Trustees has taken the next steps in officially filling the vacancy of school superintendent.
The board Tuesday voted 6-0 to name Dr. Veronica Vijil as the lone finalist for school superintendent.
Absent from the meeting was Board President Alejandro Guerra, who was ill.
Dr. Vijil says she is honored for the opportunity and can’t wait to continue the district’s positive momentum.
“My thoughts are really one of gratefulness. I have dedicated my life to working with children and this is just another opportunity to get to do the work that I love, the work that I believe I was called to do and it happens to be with a great board and so I think solidifying this team of eight really makes me proud and it really brings me a lot of joy,” said Vijil.
Selecting Dr. Vijil as the lone finalist comes after no official search had been initiated by the trustees.
Instead, each board member publicly stated how they believed the district already had the right person doing the job.
Dr. Vijil, who initially was hired over the summer to serve as deputy superintendent, was appointed as the interim superintendent in late September following the resignation of former Superintendent Matthew Gutierrez.
Board Vice-President Carl Jenkins says Dr. Vijil has not only successfully carried the district well into this new year, but she has already proven in her past experiences that she is more than capable to do the job. He says the B rating obtained at her former school district, Fabens ISD speaks for itself and illustrates a commitment to serve students and their families.
“She is very fluent with what she does here in the district. She is very honest. She always comes to us with new ideas and tries to implement them through the school and those ideas aren’t radical. They are simple things like we need basic things. We need math. We need reading. We need to focus on that – the simple things. She’s very personable. She comes from a district that was a B district and we will hopefully be there pretty soon. That’s what my hope is,” said Jenkins.
By state law, the Seguin ISD cannot officially offer the job to Dr. Vijil until a 21-day waiting day. Now although the district did not launch an official search for the position, the district beginning today will post the position. Jenkins says this effort allows the Seguin ISD to still consider other potential candidates.
“We did check with our attorney here at the school and we are going to post the job opening for the 10 days required and during that 10 days, if we find anybody else, we will absolutely consider it,” said Jenkins.
Jenkins states that the financial impact of launching a superintendent search also weighed heavily in the board’s decision to forego a search and secure what the school district already had – and that was a top candidate. In fact, with her elite experience, he says he’s surprised that others aren’t already knocking on her door.
“She’s highly qualified and if we did do a search, it would cost about $10,000 and I think we could better use that money in the district for simple things like substitute teachers and things like that. We need to save the district money. This is trying times for sure,” said Jenkins. “
Meanwhile Dr. Vijil says she is committed to making the Seguin ISD successful and ensuring that it gets the recognition that it deserves.
“I’ve had a great string of experiences that have led me to this including my past experience in my previous district as superintendent. We stayed focused on the students, and we had a lot of things that really benefited the community, so we kept that in mind. We just kept our eye on the ball, and we dedicated ourselves to student outcomes – to not be distracted because there are a lot of distractions right now. It’s a border town that I came from and so it was a poor farming community that we had to keep in mind what the needs of that community were. So, as I learn about that, I’ll transfer that to see what the needs are here. We have an expanded number of programs here compared to where I came from and so we’ve got to take advantage and bank on everything we have here and make it successful,” said Vijil.
To better connect Dr. Vijil with the community, the 21-day waiting period according to Jenkins will also allow the public to meet and vet Dr. Vijil’s qualifications and vision for the school district.
“During those 21 days, we’ve asked that she have some community input, have some community meetings, meets with students and staff here in Seguin, leadership and try to see what her vision is,” said Jenkins.
Dr. Vijil continues in Seguin with 34 years of experience – 21 of those years in district leadership roles, 10 years as a principal and 4 years as a superintendent.