Interim superintendent still under evaluation, high school principal resigns
MARFA — While it has been nearly two years since the Marfa ISD School Board named Arturo Alferez interim superintendent, his evaluation and certification process is still ongoing, according to Board President Teresa Nuñez.
The board has met five times over the past two months, for both regular and special meetings, all of which included closed session discussions of superintendent evaluation and employment.
On Monday, the board executed the following item: “Consider and take Possible Action to Accept Resignation by Arturo Alferez of his 2024-2025 Interim Superintendent Contract and to Approve Administrator Contract for the 2024-2025 School Year with Temporary Interim Superintendent Stipend Agreement for Mr. Alferez.”
In a follow up with The Big Bend Sentinel, Nuñez explained that the district’s lawyers found that the word “administration” was missing from Alferez’s current interim superintendent contract. He was first extended an interim superintendent contract for the 2023-24 school year, which the board then extended for the 2024-25 school year.
“So, per our lawyers, he had to resign from that current contract, and then we put him on the corrected, which was just that one word — administration — contract,” Nuñez said.
But, for all intents and purposes, she said, his employment status as the head of the district has not changed. The district’s lawyers did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
The new administrator contract the board extended to Alferez on Monday ends in June 2025 and a decision regarding his employment for the 2025-26 school year has not yet been made, Nuñez said.
Alferez is not a certified superintendent and has been working towards earning that credential since he was named interim, she said. This summer he took superintendent courses with the Region 18 Education Service Center. In October, when asked by The Sentinel what the status of his certification was, Nuñez said Alferez needed to “complete some hours” with Region 18 then would schedule his test.
This week, Nuñez said Alferez will schedule to take his test sometime in April. There is no time limit to how long an interim superintendent may be in place.
Trustees are waiting to see Alferez’s superintendent certification test results, she said, before making a decision about his employment for next school year. “It just depends on how he does on his test, if we move on naming him the superintendent or still offering him an administration contract for the next school year,” Nuñez said.
The board is confident that Alferez will pass his test and has completed all other requirements to become a certified superintendent, she said. “We’re moving in the right direction,” Nuñez said. “That’s our whole goal is to make sure we do have the certified, right person.”
Nuñez said other metrics — like staff retention, student outcomes and growth, dual credit and career technical education (CTE) participation and early childhood education partnerships — are also being considered by the board in Alferez’s evaluation process.
Alferez did not respond to requests for comment on his superintendent certification pursuit beyond the statement that “testing will be done in April.”
Junior high and high school principal resignation
Junior High and High School Principal Candy Dominguez tendered her resignation to Alferez on March 20, which was accepted by the school board on Monday. Dominguez started at the district just this year, after the high school principal role had been vacant for a year following the resignation of Luane Porter in the summer of 2023.
In her letter of resignation, provided to The Sentinel, Dominguez did not list a reason for her resignation but cited her various accomplishments over the past year — from the creation of a new discipline matrix to enforcing the dress code and Texas 90% Attendance Law — and school events she attended.
“I thank you for the opportunity that I was given and will forever be grateful to have served the Marfa ISD & Marfa Community as a whole,” Dominguez wrote to Alferez. “I wish you, our students and the entire Marfa Community much success.”Â
Trustees extended new contracts to other district administrators including its current CFO, athletic director and elementary principal in late February, but not to Dominguez. This week, Alferez expressed gratitude for Dominguez’s time at the district.
“We want to thank Dr. Dominguez for her service to our students and district,” Alferez said. “We wish her the best in her future endeavors.”