Socorro ISD’s conservator gives update on superintendent search and conservatorship

SOCORRO, Texas (KVIA)-- Socorro ISD accepted a conservatorship appointed by Texas Education Agency back in March. Michael Hinojosa and Andrew Kim, both former superintendents, were the conservators tasked with helping the district rebuild trust with the community.

Texas Education Agency says another task of the conservators is to choose a superintendent. Andrew Kim says they want to make sure they are giving the district what the value most in a superintendent.

In order to do that Kim says first they are seeking for community feedback to come up with a profile for the perfect candidates.

"We're going to go through a process of vetting the community, listening, inputs and so forth to create the profile. The school board has engaged the Texas Association of School Board as the official search firm for the school district at this particular point. But right now, we're going through that, vetting process," Kim said.

Kim adds there has been a lot of inquiries on the position but they want public feedback to make sure the correct choice is made.

Socorro ISD had a more than $33 million deficit when they agreed to the conservatorship but they say that played no part in the decision. There were 8 ongoing investigations by the TEA within the district of Socorro when the conservatorship began.

"It's a long, long process. It wasn't just one decision. It's many decisions," Kim said, in regards to a multi-million deficit.

Kim says before they exit the conservatorship they need to review the executive summary that is provided to the board.

"The Socorro school district staff has been, cooperative an equal partner as well as compliant and really contributing to the improvement of the process." Kim said.

There is not set date for when the conservatorship will end but Kim says the community can be proud of the fact that the school district is working to restore their credibility.