The Round Rock Independent School District Board of Trustees appointed Fabian Cuero to the Place 6 trustee vacancy after interviewing five candidates at a called meeting Aug. 17, 2025.

The appointment followed open interviews with each candidate and a closed-session deliberation authorized under the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code section 551.074. Trustees voted 6-1 to approve the appointment; the motion was seconded and carried. The board said Cuero will serve until November.

The panel opened the evening with a description of the process for filling the vacancy created when Trustee Harrison resigned at the Aug. 21, 2025 regular meeting; the district opened an application period Aug. 22 that closed Sept. 2 and said it had completed background checks on the five interviewees. The board conducted the interviews in open session, sequestering candidates between turns so each would hear the same questions in the same order. Trustees had discussed but did not impose a strict time limit for each interview.

Cuero, an immigrant from Colombia who said he has lived in Round Rock ISD since 2005 and works at Dell Technologies, told trustees he brings volunteer experience on bond committees and district advisory groups and professional experience with business-intelligence and data systems. In closing remarks he said, “No one’s gonna outwork me,” and asked the board to consider his record of service to the district.

Other candidates who were interviewed included Dr. Tiffany Stange, Veronica Fabian, Sybil Simmons Johnson and Melissa Wilkley. Each offered a one-word description of the district during the interviews: Stange called it “belonging,” Veronica Fabian said “excellence,” Sybil Simmons Johnson said “hope,” and Wilkley said “incredible.” Candidates described backgrounds ranging from PTA and school-based volunteer leadership to work on college-and-career programming and advocacy for marginalized students, and several discussed special-education and transition services.

After the interviews, the board recessed into closed session to deliberate the appointment, then returned to open session to consider motions. A trustee moved to appoint Cuero and the motion was seconded; the motion carried by a 6-1 vote. Trustees also approved a separate motion to limit the initial closed-session deliberation to 30 minutes, with the option to extend if needed.

The board conducted the process under the procedures described at the meeting: interview questions submitted by trustees, candidates sequestered between interviews, and deliberation in closed session under Texas Government Code section 551.074. The district staff confirmed background checks had been completed for all five candidates.

Trustees and staff thanked the candidates for applying and encouraged continued engagement from community members. The meeting, which began at about 5:32 p.m., moved into closed session at about 7:12 p.m. and reconvened in open session at about 7:52 p.m.; the meeting adjourned at about 7:54 p.m.

Clarifying details from the meeting record: the application window opened Aug. 22 and closed Sept. 2; trustees each submitted interview questions that all candidates were asked in the same order; candidates were sequestered between interviews; the board deliberated the appointment in closed session under Texas Government Code section 551.074 and then returned to the public meeting to vote.