Board adopts guardrails and a district superintendent-evaluation instrument after debate

The Del Valle ISD Board of Trustees voted to adopt a set of superintendent guardrail progress measures (OPMs) and a locally developed superintendent evaluation instrument that staff say aligns the instrument with board goals and monitoring measures.

The guardrails discussion focused on the numerical targets and cadence of monitoring. Vice President Cisneros questioned incremental targets (for example, raising a safety-related OPM from 89% to 90% over five years) and urged more aggressive goals; Dr. Cantu and other trustees said the OPMs represent baseline-setting and that quarterly surveys and disaggregated reporting will provide earlier checks. "To reach 100% I think we can consider an incremental increase," Dr. Gutierrez said in response to concerns about attainability.

Trustees also debated which superintendent-evaluation instrument to use: the Lone Star Governance (LSG) appraisal recommended by the commissioner or a district-developed instrument aligned to locally adopted GPMs and OPMs. Vice President Cisneros and others raised procedural concerns that it may be unfair to evaluate the superintendent on baselines the board just adopted; supporters said the instrument includes comment space and will be used as a fair, growth-oriented tool. The board approved the guardrails (vote 7-2) and later approved the district-developed evaluation instrument (vote 7-2), while several trustees asked for additional workshops and clarity on application of the instrument.