EPISD interim superintendent steps down

Dr. Terri Jordan is out as the Interim Superintendent of the El Paso Independent School District.
Jordan announced during Tuesday’s EPISD Board meeting that she was stepping down as Superintendent. She will retain her job as chief of staff as her contract, which was extended by a year in June, stipulates.

Jordan became EPISD’s interim superintendent in 2011 following a quick exit by then-superintendent Lorenzo Garcia. He was arrested on federal fraud charges. He is expected to face sentencing later this year after a guilty plea.

Since April, Jordan has faced a growing challenge. Outrage has grown over an alleged scandal that held back students to improve state testing at the El Paso Independent School District.

A month after the challenges facing Jordan began, board members told ABC-7 that there was no timeline to hire a new superintendent.

Isela Castanon Williams, the board president, told ABC-7 at the same time that the new hire likely wouldn’t be considered until investigations and court cases tied to EPISD were settled.

Garcia has yet to be sentenced in his case, which involved cheating the district out of thousands of dollars.

Little information has been given on the continued FBI investigation about the scandal involving EPISD schools.

Jordan has said little since self-reporting her district’s wrongdoing in April. She didn’t take questions at Tuesday’s meeting.