SCUC ISD hopefuls prioritize teachers

An information technology professional and an Air Force retiree are vying in the only contested election Tuesday on the Schertz-CiboloUniversal City Independent School District board.

The candidates, Margaret Carlin and Alberto Ramirez, agree on a variety of hot topics, including opposition to a private school voucher system now being debated by Texas lawmakers, making student mental health and school safety a priority and the need to improve teacher retention efforts.

They also both stressed the importance of the board’s next large job, appointing a new superintendent. In September, Clark Early announced that he will retire on Jan. 31 after four years leading the district, which serves 15,000 students on the far Northeast Side stretching into Guadalupe County.

Last month, the board hired the Texas Association of School Boards to help search for a successor.

Carlin and Ramirez are running for a fouryear term to replace Robert Westbrook, who did not seek reelection to the Place 2 seat after 12 years as a trustee. Board President Gerald Perkins and trustee Letticia Sever drew no opponents for reelection in Place 1 and Place 3, respectively.

A voting schedule and list of polling locations are available on the district’s website.

Margaret Carlin

A San Antonio native, Carlin, 57, has spent most of her career in leadership positions at information technology companies and currently manages a team of software developers for the financial services provider USAA.

She moved to the district nearly a decade ago to be closer to her family and has a niece and nephew in school at SCUC ISD, she said. Her brother is a school resource officer in the district and her sister-inlaw is a teacher at Sipple Elementary School.

Four months into moving back to San Antonio, Carlin’s life was upended when her husband died suddenly from a brain aneurysm. She said her candidacy is fueled by her and her late husband’s shared passion for public education and community service.

“He and I both wanted to get involved in the community, and so he’s not here to do that, but I am,” Carlin said. “It’s part of doing something that we were both very committed to wanting to do, be actively involved in the community, and school just is the perfect fit.”

When she decided to run for the seat several months ago, she said, she made a commitment to attend every scheduled board meeting to learn more about the issues facing the district. If elected, Carlin said, her priorities would be improving both physical and psychological safety for students and staff and increasing teacher retention by learning from the success of other San Antonio schools.

“I think that teachers need to feel valued, they need to know that their work is important and understand how they’re contributing to the outcomes of students’ education,” she said.

Asked about the reaction against school policies, teaching or library books that has affected school board politics nationwide under the general term “parents’ rights,” Carlin said she hasn’t heard outcries over it in SCUC ISD.

“I think that’s a national problem that we’re just not seeing locally,” she said, adding that she does believe “it’s a good idea for curriculums to be discussed with parents and for them to be part of that discussion.”

Carlin said she tutored atrisk students in Del Valle ISD in Travis County under a partnership with Motorola and has been a guest speaker for St. Mary’s University’s computer science and engineering program. She has a bachelor’s degree in technology and a master’s degree in organizational leadership and ethics, which she said would help inform her decisions as a trustee.

With behavioral issues spiking since the pandemic, Carlin said it’s important schools are equipped to step in early to address any kind of disciplinary infraction or mental health issue.

“One of the challenges I’ve heard is not knowing the path to go to get that help, and so that might be one of those areas where more transparency is needed,” she said.

Alberto Ramirez

Ramirez, 44, retired from the Air Force in 2018 after 20 years of service. He is now an agent for the Brandi Cook Real Estate Group and regularly volunteers at a local church.

His wife is a former fifth-grade teacher at Schlather Intermediate School and his two sons attend Steele High School and Dobie Junior High School. An El Paso native, Ramirez moved to the area in 2013 when he was assigned to Joint

Base San Antonio-Randolph.

He said he decided to run for election after noticing the lack of candidates for board seats this year. One of his main concerns, if elected, is boosting community involvement.

“We have a very difficult time ahead of us … I know that we do because teachers are leaving,” Ramirez said. “I want to make sure that we fight to stay as good as we can be. I’m kind of a reluctant person to come in and join that fight, but I couldn’t sleep at night knowing that I could have done something to make it better.”

Ramirez wants the district to offer higher starting salaries. The average teacher pay in SCUC ISD was $61,507 during the 2022-23 school year, according to data from the TEA.

“Although we have the best talent, we’re still paying our teachers less than neighboring districts,” he said. “I spoke to several teachers who live in our community who commute to other districts, even though there’s jobs available within minutes.”

Similarly, the district has to address a bus driver shortage that has hampered its transportation operations and require up to two hours for some students to get home after school, Ramirez said.

He is also tough on bullying and wants to make sure that teachers and staff have the tools to “administer discipline correctly.”

Ramirez favors heightened transparency and said changes to curriculums, especially on controversial topics, need to be clearly communicated to parents.

“Parents should be informed of what’s being taught, so if they have an issue with a certain curriculum, they can opt out — and they should have a mechanism to opt out,” he said.

But the district also has a responsibility to teach what the state mandates, “even if the parents disagree with it,” Ramirez added.

His tenure as a paralegal has equipped him to examine contracts and to serve as an advocate for students, teachers and the District 2 community, he said. Having kids in the district is also a major plus, Ramirez said.

“What’s better than to have somebody who has a stake in making policies that are going to affect their own family?” he asked.

Ramirez

Carlin