Somerset ISD tabs Moreno as lone superintendent finalist
The Somerset Independent School District board has picked Jose H. Moreno, 51, the superintendent of Robstown ISD near Corpus Christi, as the lone finalist to replace Superintendent Saul Hinojosa.
Hinojosa announced his retirement from the position last summer after 15 years, and the district began its formal search in November with help from law firm Walsh Gallegos. The board conducted two rounds of interviews in January before settling on Moreno with a unanimous vote Monday night. By law, it must wait 21 days before taking a vote to make the hire.
“We want somebody who’s going to love the kids and our teachers and really invest in our community,” Hinojosa had said of his ideal qualities for a new superintendent in a recent interview. “As a superintendent, it is very important to be visible. You’ve got to be on the campuses to know what’s going on.”
Moreno has 28 years of experience in education, eight of them as superintendent, according to an announcement by Somerset ISD early Tuesday.
He previously was superintendent of La Vernia ISD, where he created the district’s dual-language program, and he is the current superintendent of the year among the 43 school districts in Texas Education Agency Region 2. He also is president of the Region 2 Superintendent Advisory Committee.
“I am humbled and honored by the board’s decision to select me as their next superintendent of schools,” Moreno said, according to the release.
In the interview, Hinojosa said the new superintendent will need to deal with the district’s growth and the possible need for bond funding. Enrollment at Somerset ISD has more than doubled since 2008, flattening during the pandemic but picking up again this year, he said.
The new leader “is going to have to probably get a facilities committee and start planning for the next 10 years to see the direction of the district and what kind of facilities we’re going to need in the future, because our campuses are nearing capacity,” including an elementary school built in the 1970s that might need replacing, Hinojosa said.
Hinojosa has worked in Somerset for 20 years, previously as an assistant principal at Southside ISD and as a teacher and coach in Mcallen ISD. His father was a principal at the high school he attended in the South Texas town of Freer, and his mother was an educator in the same district, he said. Hinojosa was originally dissuaded from pursuing education, but he ultimately followed in their footsteps.
When Hinojosa became Somerset ISD’S superintendent in 2008, the district was struggling with superintendent turnover and failing schools. Now it has an “A” rating from the TEA, though 90 percent of its student body is considered economically disadvantaged. It has a nationally recognized Blue Ribbon school, Somerset Elementary.
Hinojosa, 54, credits this success in part to the school board, with which he has had a good working relationship.
“There’s been a lot of mistakes along the way, and they accepted that and allowed me to learn from that experience,” Hinojosa said of trustees. “In certain envi
ronments, people make a mistake and they’re ready for the superintendent to move on. And in this community, I think people have been forgiving.”
According to the release, Moreno said he was looking forward to working with the Somerset board “as a team of eight.”
Hinojosa’s current salary is $262,292, and Moreno is making $175,000 a year, with two years left on his contract at Robstown ISD.
If hired, Moreno will become one of several new superintendents hired in the San Antonio area before next school year. Southwest ISD has named a finalist, Jeannette Ball, who resigned in November from Judson ISD. Judson and Northside ISDS are conducting searches for their next superintendents.