Cervantes retires from Cotulla ISD

The superintendent of schools at Cotulla announced his retirement last week and plans to leave the district within the month for a position in administration at the Texas Association of School Boards.

Ruben Cervantes was hired in April 2021 to head Cotulla ISD after serving three years as superintendent at Dell City in West Texas, a school district that listed its entire student population at under 70. He begins in his new position on September 5, serving TASB as a consultant over three education service center districts in West Texas.

The Cotulla ISD board of trustees has voted to invite former superintendent Dr. Jack Seals to serve in an interim capacity until the district has found its new head of administration. Seals retired in 2021 after serving ten years as superintendent at Cotulla ISD and twenty years in the same position at Dilley.

Cervantes leaves Cotulla ISD after only two years but is remembered in the district for steering the community toward a significant development, the construction of an entirely new high school campus, for which voters approved a $65 million bond last year.

Although still in its planning stages by architects with input from the school board and campus staff, the new high school will be built on the present CHS campus, replacing buildings that have been in use since the late 1970s.

“The school board and I are very grateful to the voters for approving that bond, and I know the students of our district will appreciate it, too,” Cervantes said this week.

“Building a new high school is a major undertaking,” the superintendent said, “and our focus will be on providing the children of La Salle County with the very best environment in which to offer the highest quality of education.”

Groundbreaking is scheduled during the upcoming academic year; Cotulla ISD has designed a two-phase construction project that begins with classrooms and essential facilities, and will not need to transport students elsewhere during the project. The second building phase includes auditorium and cafeteria facilities.

“It will be a campus that our community can be proud of,” the superintendent said. “And this district has a lot of pride.”

This year, voters again approved a bond designed by the school district for a $5 million upgrade to security features at all four campuses, including double-door vestibules, full-time camera surveillance, ballistic film and replacement windows, and eight-foot fencing around all facilities, as well as a rake of technology improvements. The measures had been mandated by the state of Texas after a mass shooting at Uvalde, where 19 children and two teachers were killed by a gunman who had entered an elementary school building unimpeded.

Prevented by law from directly promoting the bonds themselves in the school district elections, Cervantes nevertheless championed both projects as vital to the students’ education and overall safety.

“Safety has been our number one goal for the learning environment, across all campuses,” Cervantes said. “It isn’t just about what happened at Uvalde. This has always been about giving our students the best learning environment, a place where the children want to be, and where they feel safe, and where the parents of our community feel reassured in sending their children.”

Cotulla ISD was in its final construction phase of the new Ramirez/Burks Elementary School when the superintendent was hired. The district and community celebrated the grand opening of the new campus in December 2021, inviting Cervantes and his predecessor, Dr. Seals, to offer remarks. The $24 million price tag for the school had been covered by a bond issue approved by voters during Dr. Seals’ administration.

In response to concerns over student safety in the aftermath of the Uvalde shooting in May 2022, Cervantes and the board of trustees began talks on adopting a Guardian District policy that would allow teachers, administrators and support staff to carry concealed firearms on campus during the school day. The measure passed a board vote late last year and took effect in January, by which time a number of Cotulla ISD employees had registered for training.

Today, the school district does not disclose how many of its staff are armed, as per policy, confirming only that any number of its more than 250 employees may be carrying a firearm. Cervantes posted signs outside each campus advising the public that Cotulla ISD staff are trained to take any measures necessary to protect the children.

Cervantes, who presided over the same Guardian District policy adoption at Dell City, has indicated he believes the measure represents one of the strongest deterrents to a would-be intruder planning violent acts against children and staff on Cotulla ISD’s campuses.

“I expect Cotulla to continue the policy, and I feel it needs to continue,” the superintendent said. “The board supports it. We need to continue to do whatever we can possibly do to protect our children. We have to do what it takes.”

Cervantes ends a 35-year career in education with his retirement. The TASB position is available only to retired superintendents.

“I wish I had been here sooner, because I would have stayed longer,” the superintendent said. “I knew this was going to be my last post.

“This is a good school district to work for and a good district to be a part of,” Cervantes added. “It’s a great board of trustees to work with. These board members have been very supportive. I couldn’t have asked for more.”