Incident at Edinburgh football match leads to new board procedures

EDINBURG – The local school board held a special meeting Wednesday to take action to develop board procedures to address a recent aggression related to an incident involving a school board candidate and county police officers at a football game last Friday.

On September 6, Edinburg High played against Edinburg Robert Vela High in a rivalry game at Richard R. Flores Stadium. Off the field, toward the sidelines, the incident occurred involving Alex Rios, a candidate for Edinburg CISD school board.

Rios attended the special session and presented his views during the public comments.

Going into details of the evening, Rios said he arrived at the stadium with family and friends.

While watching the first quarter of the game in the stands, he said he was approached by stadium staff and asked for a sideline pass for 2024. Rios said he was given the pass at the south side entrance gate after being greeted by board member and secretary Luis Alamia.

Rios shook hands with ECISD Superintendent Mario Salinas, as well as principals and staff, then said he left the field to ask a fan club volunteer to give him a T-shirt to wear over his campaign shirt to show his unbiased support.

When he re-entered the shoulder, Rios said, he was arrested by district police Chief Ricardo Perez Jr. and surrounded by a captain, sergeants and security guards, who said he was not welcome in the area.

“I then asked by whom and he replied, the sports director,” he said. “Minutes later, your sports director calls me to the exit gate and tells me to leave the area. Confused, I asked him if there was something wrong or if there was a specific reason why I was removed.”

Rios said athletic director Oscar Salinas then attempted to remove the tape, which resulted in unwanted contact with him. He then said he became afraid and was held against his will and asked to leave the sidelines.

As he left the sidelines, Rios told Perez to send an officer to take a report.

“He refused and told me that the operations center was, in quotes, clocked out,” he said.

Rios said he did not leave until he filed a report, but was told to leave the stadium and wait outside. While he waited outside for 45 minutes, he reflected on the interaction, he said.

“At no point was I rude or disrespectful to the humiliation, assault and intimidation tactics used by the ECISD administration and staff toward anyone who was invited by one of their own people,” Rios said. “Now I'm wondering what the intention was in giving me that pass… We ask this board to make sure that this incident does not happen to any student, any staff member, any community member of this community.”

The meeting, attended by all except board members Alamia and Dominga “Minga” Vela, was immediately closed to the public.

After returning to the public session, ECISD attorney Benjamin Castillo read the results of the closed session.

“Due to the recent actions of certain trustees who are currently absent and have acted outside of their authority, the board has directed me to develop formal rules of procedure for the board,” Castillo said at the meeting.

He said the procedures should provide trustees with clear guidelines to enable them to carry out their defined roles and comply with the boundaries set out in laws and policies.

“Effective immediately, all trustees are prohibited from entering any campus without a specific purpose and prior approval from the superintendent,” Castillo said. “In addition, the board has asked the superintendent to strictly limit access to the sidelines during district football games to those whose attendance is required, including trustees… Finally, I would like to remind all candidates, including incumbent board members, that school events are an opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of our students. To keep the focus on students, we ask that all candidates and incumbent officials refrain from wearing campaign materials to these events.”

Board member Miguel “Mike” Farias said it was unfortunate that these measures had led to a special meeting.

“This is very upsetting,” said Farias. “We have a lot of positive things in our district, and their actions are portraying Edinburgh in a really bad light…”

He contacted Alamia via WhatsApp message and said, “I agree that the board should adopt bylaws for the board so that we can hold ALL SEVEN accountable and ensure that the focus always remains on the students of the district.”

When he reached out to Rios on Thursday, he said he was happy to close the matter and start a new chapter.

“Misunderstandings and miscommunications happen everywhere, in every business, in every district, in every family,” Rios said. “For me, this was all a misunderstanding and miscommunication between staff and administration because the school board member gave me this pass. This person did not communicate with the appropriate authority to inform them that they had hosted me as a guest.”

When asked if he had spoken to Alamia since the incident, Rios said no.

“The whole situation affected me emotionally,” he said. “My family was there and witnessed it … When I went back to the stands, I just felt really ugly inside and (my wife) could tell by how I was feeling.”