From the first female superintendent being selected to lead the Boerne Independent School District, to the announcement that St. Mary’s University hired its first president of Asian descent, 2023 was a banner year for diversity as 10 educational institutions across San Antonio saw shifts in leadership.
The moves are the continuation of a trend seen in recent years as long-serving leaders continue to depart amid a pressure cooker of politics, post-COVID learning loss and staffing concerns, along with looming financial challenges as federal pandemic-relief funds near expiration.
Such challenges have pushed four districts to close a total of 25 schools this year, and sparked emotional community discussions and promises by voters and parents to revisit the decisions when school board seats are up for election.
The wave of new, diverse leaders were selected by school boards in response to community members who were engaged in listening sessions, surveys and focus groups as part of the selection process.
In the Judson Independent School District, for example, community members said they wanted to see consistency following the sudden departure of their former superintendent, Jeanette Ball, who resigned last year with three years remaining on her contract for reasons that have not been made public. She went on to accept the top job at the Southwest Independent School District, where her teaching career began.
In response, the board selected a lifelong Live Oak Resident and Judson alum Milton “Rob” Fields, who grew up just houses away from where he was named as superintendent. Fields, who is Black, was already serving as interim superintendent, and told reporters the night he was selected as a lone finalist that he had no plans on leaving.
All the new leaders, who have spoken to the San Antonio Report and other press outlets, as well as providing written statements, have shared a collective optimism for the future of education in San Antonio, despite the multitude of challenges they must face.
San Antonio College
Naydeen González-De Jesús became the second female president in the almost 100-year history of San Antonio College at the beginning of January 2023, one of two changes in the Alamo Colleges District of community colleges.
In a podcast released shortly after she was selected, González-De Jesús said she was attracted to the college because of the demographics served by the growing institution, which recently won the prestigious Aspen Award highlighting top community colleges in the nation.
“One of the things that pulled me to SAC is the students we serve looked like me,” she said in the podcast. “They sounded like me. Many of them went through many of the things that I went through. I grew up poor, I was raised by a single mom. I am the very first one in my household to pursue a higher education.”
Through those experiences, González-De Jesús said she saw the power of education to transform lives.
González-De Jesús said in the same podcast that she wants to expand partnerships with businesses, industry and K-12 and to improve systems to ensure students can complete college moving forward.
In a report following her first 100 days, González-De Jesús said she heard during listening tours that faculty were concerned about integrity and accountability in the growing community college. In response, she said her team would refocus on those principles.
“This refocus must include addressing issues, some of them uncomfortable, that have lingered from SAC’s past,” she said in the report. “Doing so isn’t easy. The conversations can be uncomfortable, but they are necessary.”
Students and faculty have expressed concerns over incidents this year, including a number of staff departures from the mortuary science program at the school, and more recently, over the handling of an event focused on the conflict in the Middle East.
According to interviews with students and a review of email communications, an event held to discuss the conflict between Israel and Hamas as well as the larger context of the conflict in the region was postponed at the last minute, with a variety of reasons given to students. The same event ended up occurring later in the semester.
The Alamo Colleges District has hired a third-party to look into the most recent complaints, according to a statement.
Somerset Independent School District
At the end of January, one of the longest-serving superintendents in the region, Saul Hinojosa, departed from his role leading the small Somerset ISD, a district of just over 4,000 students in Southwest Bexar County.
The rash of new leaders in K-12 in recent years has brought the tenure of district leaders down substantially, making Hinojosa’s tenure starting in 2007 a rarity.
Hinojosa was replaced by Jose Moreno, who previously served as superintendent of the Robstown Independent School District and before that led La Vernia ISD, east of San Antonio, where he created the district’s first dual language program.
Southwest Independent School District
Days into February, the Southwest ISD board finalized its decision to hire Jeanette Ball as superintendent. Ball started her education career as a teacher and later an administrator there before being hired to lead the Uvalde Independent School District.
Ball said the role was a homecoming and shared excitement about the position in a ceremony after being voted in on a split vote.
Before being hired, she served as superintendent of the Judson Independent School District until the end of 2022, when she resigned. She later told Report that the split was amicable, comparing it to a “marriage.”
“I did what I could with that district, we passed a bond there … so it was just about that time.”
She went on to help Southwest ISD pass a bond in May.
Northside Independent School District
Northside ISD also saw turnover in 2023, with Superintendent Brian Woods stepping down after more than a decade in the position and three decades with the district.
Woods served as a spokesperson of sorts for the many school districts in the city, often speaking on the multitude of issues facing public school districts as a variety of issues were debated in Austin, including school choice, vouchers and school safety.
Continuing that type of advocacy, Woods joined the Texas Association of School Administrators as the head of grassroots advocacy as he prepared to leave the district.
In his place, John Craft, who was leading the smaller Killeen Independent School District, took the role. Craft set a goal early on to visit every one of the 131 schools across San Antonio’s largest school district.
In an interview with the Report, Craft said he and his wife Choe Lan, who is also an educator, have been surprised by the kindness and growth seen throughout San Antonio.
Starting his first new school year, Craft engaged with families by giving out free school supplies and answering questions for parents about registration.
“We felt like we really need to reach out to families, introduce ourselves and let them know we’re here to support anything we can do to help them, because their education is so important,” Craft told the Report at the time.
Northwest Vista College
González-De Jesús was not the only new face to take charge at one of the five colleges in the Alamo Colleges District.
Amy Bosley was appointed as the new president of Northwest Vista College in May, as the school started work on a new five-year strategic plan and the “Excelencia in Education” framework.
Bosley had been vice president for institutional planning, development, and chief of staff at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida.
The veteran administrator and educator is an Aspen Presidential Fellow and contributes to local, state, and national organizations, according to a press release from Northwest Vista.
Texas A&M University- San Antonio
At fast-growing Texas A&M University-San Antonio, Salvador Hector Ochoa began his tenure with an entire semester of listening tours and a commitment to retain staff after an exodus of 19% of faculty and staff the year before he began.
Ochoa addressed that number during commencement in September, as reported by the campus newspaper, The Mesquite.
“We need to stop that,” he said at the time, referring to the exodus of employees. “We need to make sure that you’re valued.”
Similar to González-De Jesús, Ochoa was attracted to the school by the promise and challenge of serving a growing demographic of first-generation students who haven’t always been given the opportunity to pursue higher education.
Growth and professional opportunities for every student who wants to pursue higher levels of education are among goals Ochoa has coming into the school at a pivotal moment.
“I will say that I have more cactus and mesquite trees than probably any other institution in the country … but the opportunities are incredible and, in many ways, greater than I envisioned,” he told the San Antonio Report. “And I feel very fortunate to be here to play a role and to work with our community partners, our county, our city partners and the system to bring that to fruition.”
Boerne Independent School District
Boerne ISD, a district of about 10,300 students northwest of San Antonio, selected its first female superintendent in November following a lengthy search process that began after Superintendent Thomas Price announced in June that he would be retiring.
In a statement at the time, Price said the position was the “highest honor of [his] career,” adding that he is now looking forward to spending more time with his family.
Kristin Craft, who left the role of associate superintendent at the Spring Branch Independent School District to take the superintendent job, said she was coming to the role “with a heart to serve and a heart to get to know this great community and all of our students and teachers.”
Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District
Paige Meloni, the Lewisville Independent School District’s CFO, will become superintendent of the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD after a 21-day waiting period, which ends on Jan. 9.
Meloni returns to the district northeast of San Antonio after serving in various administrative roles from 2011 to 2019, including as principal at Wiederstein Elementary School and executive director of student and academic services.
She later moved to the Regional Education Service Center (ESC-20) in San Antonio as CFO for client business services, according to a press release from the district.
St. Mary’s University
Winston Erevelles, an industrial engineering professor and former dean at St. Mary’s University, was named the university’s next president at the end of December.
Erevelles, who starts his new role midway through 2024, will be the first president of Asian descent at the Catholic and Marianist university, according to a news release.
Erevelles will succeed current St. Mary’s University President Thomas Mengler, who announced his retirement in February 2023 and will step down on May 31. He served in the role since 2012.
