One of Kingsville’s own is now the superintendent of the very district she received her education in.
At last Thursday’s special meeting of the Kingsville Independent School District Board of Trustees, Dr. Cecilia “Cissy” Reynolds-Perez superintendent contract was unanimously accepted by the board, which officially placed her in the position.
Reynolds-Perez is a graduate of the KISD and has served as an educator at numerous schools in the coastal bend. She served as Corpus Christi Ray High School Principal from 2008 to 2018 before departing to serve as Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction and Human Resources at the West Oso Independent School District for the last two years.
In her career, Reynolds-Perez has been named Texas High School Principal of the Year by the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals, as well as an HEB Excellence in Education Elementary Principal of the Year.
Reynolds-Perez was also appointed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to serve on the Governor’s State Board for the Texas School Safety Center, and she currently serves as Co-Chair on State Representative Todd Hunter’s Suicide Prevention Task Force.
Reynolds-Perez was one of 35 potential candidates from a search conducted by the O’Hanlon, Demerath and Castillo law firm, which began on May 11.
The board held three special meetings to interview potential superintendent candidates from July 16 until July 29, and they selected her as the lone finalist for the superintendent position on July 29, in a 5-2 split vote.
The board waited the state required mandatory 21-day waiting period before she was officially hired to the position last Thursday.
Before the vote, Kingsville Mayor Sam Fugate spoke during public comments and welcomed Reynolds-Perez “back home” to Kingsville.
He said the city was excited “one of our own” would be serving the district and wished her all the best in her role at KISD.
Fugate than invited her to the podium as he presented her with the Key to the City of Kingsville.
Following the Mayor, Kleberg County Sherriff Richard Kirkpatrick also approached the podium and spoke on behalf of the county to express best wishes to Reynolds-Perez on her job duties as superintendent.
Numerous other community members spoke of their appreciation towards the board of trustees for selecting Reynolds-Perez as Superintendent, before the board continued on with the meeting.
After convening in closed session for about 20 minutes, the board of trustees returned to the stage set up in the H.M. King domes for the unanimous vote.
Reynolds-Perez then took the podium to express her gratitude for being selected as superintendent.
She thanked the school board and all those who were in attendance at the meeting, and those who were watching via Facebook live and on YouTube.
“I promise you, I’m not going to let you down,” Reynolds-Perez said to the board during her speech. “To all the teachers and staff at KISD: we have a lot of work to do. I know that, you know that; there’s simply no way to sugarcoat it. For the past several years, it has not been good. But as any good leader knows, it starts at the top. I thank you for sticking by the students at KISD, and I thank you for the warm
welcome you have given me. It means more than you will ever know (…) We are going to turn this district around together.”
