A closer look
During the SISD board of trustees’ special Aug. 18 meeting, trustees unanimously voted to name Cuellar as the lone finalist. Cuellar has been serving as interim superintendent in the wake of former Superintendent Lupita Hinojosa’s retirement, which was effective June 1.
“I just want to say thank you for all the support, and thank you for the belief [in] me,” Cuellar said. “To the board ... thank you for trusting me with this enormous responsibility and the care of our 34,000 students and 5,000 staff.”
Prior to filling in as interim superintendent, Cuellar was SISD’s chief of academics and school leadership. SISD began a nationwide search for the next superintendent in May, as previously reported.
“Over the past several months, we've conducted a nationwide search for a leader who could meet the unique challenges and opportunities facing our district,” board President Justine Durant said Aug. 18. “Throughout that [procress,] it became clear that the ... very best candidate we had was already here with us.”
Career history
As previously reported by Community Impact, Cuellar has more than 20 years of public education experience, including past jobs as:
- Deputy superintendent at Midland ISD
- Deputy superintendent for Portland Public Schools
- Community superintendent at Baltimore County Public Schools
- Assistant superintendent in the College Readiness Department at Houston ISD
School districts are required by state law to wait 21 days after naming a lone finalist for superintendent positions before officially hiring them, as previously reported.