Taylor Independent School District has set its sights on an interim superintendent.
The Taylor ISD board of trustees approved to authorize the school board president and district legal counsel to enter contract negotiations with Steve Flores to be interim superintendent at the meeting on Monday, July 24.
Flores is a former superintendent of Round Rock Independent School District and Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District. He served for seven years at Round Rock and five years at Harlingen.
He has worked as an adjunct associate professor at the University of Texas, where he received his doctorate in 2001, since July 2022.
Recently, Flores released a book he authored titled, “Friday Focus”, which stemmed from weekly messages he sent to Round Rock ISD employees when he was superintendent.
If a contract is agreed upon, Flores would serve in the interim role until the district found its next superintendent.
The vote to begin contract negotiations, which was unanimous, comes after Superintendent Devin Padavil was named the lone finalist for superintendent of Georgetown Independent School District after serving two and a half years in the same role at Taylor ISD. While there is urgency to find Padavil’s full time replacement, School Board President Marco Ortiz believes nailing an interim must take place before the district can start looking to hire the 20th superintendent of Taylor ISD.
“I know we’re going to get a lot of questions about when’s the next superintendent search,” said Marco Ortiz, school board president. “I believe our priority right now is to find an interim. The sooner we do that, we can move forward.”
