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EPISD Superintendent Diana Sayavedra to retire under separation agreement, questions on exit deal remain [1]
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Date: 2025-06-03
Diana Sayavedra accepted a voluntary separation agreement as superintendent of the El Paso Independent School District on Tuesday after a heated five-hour meeting where the board voted 4-2 to approve her retirement.
Sayavedra sat quietly throughout the meeting, showing no emotion, and made no statement until after the vote.
“It’s been my greatest honor and privilege to serve this school district, more importantly, to serve the broader community of El Paso. We’ve accomplished a lot of great work together, and I believe that the school district is well-positioned to thrive into the future,” Sayavedra said. “I’m confident that this community will come together with the students’ first focus and set students on the path.”
Sayavedra will remain on the job through June 15, after which she’ll be placed on emeritus status – an honorary designation awarded after retirement – through January 2026.
The details of the agreement – including whether severance pay, health insurance or other benefits will be provided – were not disclosed as it had not been finalized and signed. Sayavedra was hired in 2021, starting the job in January 2022. Her contract was to run through Jan. 25, 2029. She’s paid a $320,000 a year salary.
Board President Leah Hanany and trustees Mindy Sutton, Alex Cuellar and Jack Loverage voted in favor of the agreement. Trustees Valerie Ganelon Beals and Daniel Call voted against it and Robert Osterland abstained.
Superintendent Diana Sayavedra and her employees and supporters cry as they embrace after a Board of Trustees meeting in which trustees voted to replace her with an interim superintendent, June 3, 2025. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
In a separate 5-0 vote, the board appointed Chief Financial Officer Martha Aguirre as interim superintendent effective June 16. Osterland and Beals abstained from voting.
The board was in executive session discussing whether to fire Sayavedra and terminate her contract about four years early or accept her resignation under a voluntary separation agreement.
Call and Beals expressed disappointment in the decision and thanked the many speakers who packed the board meeting to express support for Sayavedra.
“A teacher recently told me something that’s been sticking with me. She said she feels like this board is starting a fire with 47,000 children and 7,000 employees trapped inside. I wish I could say that’s total exaggeration, but that’s kind of how it feels,” Call said.
Cuellar said the board will be unable to give specific details on the separation agreement until it gets final approval.
“In terms of what we discussed in closed session, we can’t get into that. I don’t want to violate any of those rules in terms of the voluntary retirement agreement that’s been entered into,” Cuellar said.
El Paso ISD Board of Trustees President Leah Hanany hears public comment on an item to consider the voluntary separation or termination of Superintendent Diana Sayavedra, June 3, 2025. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
Hanany said she spoke to Aguirre as soon as the board realized it would soon need an interim superintendent.
“I think in terms of ensuring continuity and stability for the district, that I think is going to be the most stable thing that we can do, especially as we approach the end of the budget cycle for this year,” Hanany said.
Aguirre told reporters after the meeting that her role as interim will be to help the district transition into new leadership.
“I believe that I need to focus on ensuring that we are sustaining stability for our students. Because again, our staff, our students and our community are relying on us to continue that forward motion that we have been having over the last couple of years,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre said she did not know how much the search for a new superintendent would cost the district.
After the meeting, Hanany denied allegations that the board pushed Sayavedra to retire or that the school closures played any role in her departure.
“Personnel discussion and anything that was taken into consideration is a matter of privacy. It’s also a matter of legal standing. We are bound by the law in discussing personnel matters,” Hanany told reporters.
An El Paso ISD employee reacts as the Board of Trustees votes to replace Superintendent Diana Sayavedra with an interim superintendent, June 3, 2025. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
After the meeting, employees lined up, some in tears, to talk to Sayavedra and share their gratitude for her time at the district.
Tuesday’s meeting came just one week after the board discussed Sayavedra’s employment in a lengthy closed-door discussion May 27 but didn’t take any action.
While board members have remained silent on the reason behind Sayavedra’s departure, some previously pointed to a plan proposed by the superintendent and approved by the previous board with a 4-3 vote to close eight elementary schools as part of a plan dubbed Destination District Redesign.
The meeting comes one month after two board members who supported Sayavedra lost their reelection bids May 3 to Mindy Sutton and Robert Osterland, while Loveridge and Hanany won theirs.
Since then, the board voted 5-2 to keep one of those schools open — Lamar Elementary School — and to limit Sayavedra’s hiring powers.
Members of the public raise signs to show support for El Paso ISD Superintendent Diana Sayavedra during a Board of Trustees meeting, June 3, 2025. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
Throughout the public comment period Tuesday, EPISD employees, students and parents spoke in favor of Sayavedra and questioned the motives behind her separation. Many expressed feelings that Sayavedra was being pushed out.
“(I’m) here today to represent the growing concern in our community addressing your lack of transparency in wanting to let Ms. Sayavedra go from her duty to EPISD,” Tippin Elementary Parent Teacher Association President Betsy Heddad said. “Your actions these past few weeks have been disruptive and show you don’t care for EPISD students, staff and administrators, only yourselves.”
Michael Clark, a homeowner in the district, pointed out the board room filled with community members.
“This room is filled with support for the superintendent. Parents, educators and community members have shown up tonight because they believe in her leadership,” he said. “So why are we here discussing a potential separation with no possible explanation? To this point, I have seen no evidence of wrongdoing at least what I’ve seen.”
EPISD student Jeremiah Velazco said he was concerned over the board’s priorities when it came to students.
“What I saw last week was truly disheartening. I saw how dysfunctional and divisive our district is as it’s facing rapid public distrust,” Velazco said. “ Right now, we question who is truly putting the students first, and how did we end up here again? Right now, this feels like it’s a struggle for authority rather than for a plan to push our district forward.”
Others at Tuesday’s meeting expressed support for trustees and were critical of Sayavedra and the way she handled concerns from the community on the school closures plan.
“We must all accept the reality that the status quo we knew is no longer, and the question becomes, how do we bridge the political and philosophical differences that have emerged? First, we must allow this board to do their work as the law stipulates and trust that they will make the right decision,” El Paso Teachers Association President Norma De La Rosa said.
EPISD teacher Yolanda Aranda Alanise accused Sayavedra of not keeping families’ interests in mind when it came to school closures.
“My experience and the people I am representing is the complete opposite of what is being said here today,” Alanise said. “Ms. Sayaverda, how can you take action to close campuses and not keep families and parents and their best interests in mind?”
“This school year, I witnessed little and unclear communication in the Lamar area about potential closures until the decision was final. I witnessed pamphlets passed out with conflicting and false numbers,” Bethany Rivera Molinar said. “I watched Lamar parents plead for answers from you,, Ms. Sayavedra, only to receive similar answers and sidesteps.”
Some speakers also raised concerns about the district’s financial future as it deals with declining enrollment, an ongoing budget deficit and the potential of starting a superintendent search.
EPISD estimated that it will have a $550 million budget with an $11 million deficit for the next school year after the Texas Legislature last week approved a bill that would allocate $8.5 billion in public school funding, according to district documents. The documents were part of a presentation that was to be part of a budget workshop Tuesday that was canceled.
Without the additional state funding, which has been sent to the governor’s desk for final approval, the district had expected a $22.7 million deficit next school year.
The district expects to end the current fiscal year with $119.6 million in its reserves.
Editor’s Note: 10 p.m. June 3: This story has been updated to include comments from CFO Martha Aguirre.
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https://elpasomatters.org/2025/06/03/episd-superintendent-sayavedra-to-retire-school-board-meeting/
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