The board is required to list any finalists for this position at least 21 days prior to any final vote on the candidate. The lone finalist is Ricardo Lopez from Ysleta ISD (Independent School District) in El Paso. The trustees approved the selection of the lone finalist during a special meeting Tuesday, July 16.
“I am ecstatic and humbled to have been selected as the lone finalist,” Mr. Lopez said after the announcement. “I am really looking forward to working with the Board of Trustees, district staff and the community to make Mission CISD the star of Texas. We want to be the light that shows everyone else that our children can compete with the rest of the world. ”
Lopez has 18 years of experience in the field of education including: classroom teacher, assistant principal, junior high school principal, high school principal. He has most recently been serving Ysleta ISD as an area associate superintendent that encompasses 25 schools and 17,000 students within the Ysleta district. His recent accomplishments include: supervision of nationally renowned dual language programs, improving state and college entrance exam scores, improved educational climate, and increasing the number of National Merit Scholar graduates.
The Mission CISD Board of Trustees can take final action hiring Lopez as soon as August 7, although a meeting date has not yet been set. He could officially begin his duties as superintendent immediately following that final approval.
“I am excited by the prospect of moving my family to Mission,” Lopez said. “Mission is a solid district. Plus, the Mission community and Rio Grande Valley have great family values.”
Lopez replaces Dr. Cornelio Gonzalez, who left Mission CISD at the end of June to take a position as the executive director for the Region One Education Service Center. Dr. Gonzalez had been with Mission CISD for 3 ½ years.