The Progress Times’ online readers were most interested in stories dealing with crime, legal controversy and Hidalgo County’s school districts this year — particularly stories about personnel changes at those school districts.
The 10 stories with the most views on the Progress Times’ website almost entirely deal with those subjects.
A story about Carol Perez being placed on leave as Mission CISD’s superintendent in May was the most read story of the year.
Perez initially resisted the ouster.
Her attorney said there was no reason to remove her as superintendent and a favorable board member described her as the victim of a “political witch hunt.”
Despite that, Perez quietly agreed to a separation agreement with the district weeks later under which she was paid three months salary to resign.
The school district was tight-lipped about Perez’s departure.
Trustees described the agreement as the most economical way to part ways with Perez, though at least one trustee said he felt termination would have been warranted.
A story about the reason Perez resigned was also popular, rating the eighth spot on the Progress Times’ most-read stories.
The reason Perez resigned became public through an open records request ultimately released in October.
That request revealed the summary of an investigation conducted by the school district’s attorneys.
That investigation found that after the Mission school board election in May, Perez had used her position as superintendent to direct district staff to alter her leave records.
Perez requested — and was paid for — 25 unused vacation days from the 2019-2020 school district, resulting in a $30,000 overpayment that wasn’t disclosed to the board or reimbursed to the district, an overpayment the board wasn’t informed of and that wasn’t allowed under Perez’s contract.
The investigation also found that Perez violated her contract by directing an employee to recode her state personal or local leave days to vacation days, which would have resulted in more compensation for Perez in the event of her termination.
Perez’s attorney declined to comment on those allegations.
Another Hidalgo County superintendent ouster also broke the top ten.
The third story on the list reported the news of Mercedes ISD Superintendent Maria Chavez being placed on leave in April.
In May, trustees voted to terminate Chavez.
Mercedes trustees and their attorney declined to tell the press anything about those decisions, though they did say litigation was possible.
No suits appear to have been filed yet.
Public information requests filed by the Progress Times weren’t successful in shedding any light on why the board fired Chavez.
Mercedes has had an interim superintendent since then, though trustees were slated to discuss permanent candidates Monday.
Interest in personnel changes at local school districts extended to their coaches.
Stories about two McAllen ISD coaches being placed on leave took the fourth and sixth spots on the most-read list.
The more read of those stories reported in February that longtime James “Nikki” Rowe basketball coach had been placed on leave and that his team would have to forfeit games a certain player took part in.
The district suspended Yebra from coaching duties after an internal investigation found that Yebra had engaged in a scheme to play an ineligible player from Mexico.
The University Interscholastic League State Committee later reprimanded the school and Yebra for the coach’s “egregious” misbehavior.
Yebra didn’t return as coach.
Rowe’s Head Baseball Coach Michael Segovia did return as coach after a brief suspension that was the sixth story on the list.
In the wake of the Yebra scandal, the district briefly suspended Segovia after a parent complained about a conversation he had with an athlete about athletic eligibility, though Segovia said he was the victim of a disgruntled parent stirring up trouble.
A local UIL committee found the parent’s complaints meritless and dismissed the allegations, with the committee’s chair saying they had been treated so seriously because of the Yebra scandal.
Not all of the education news in the top-ten dealt with personnel.
The ninth article on the list reported McAllen’s school board approving a new calendar in February.
Trustees struggled to reach consensus on the calendar, though they managed to approve one after a notably heated conversation.
Crime stories competed with education stories for spots on the list.
The second top story of the year reported the arrest of Marcos “Marc” Villarreal in October after he allegedly embezzled about $85,000 from an FFA program when he was its president.
A criminal complaint said Villarreal used the organization’s money for things like bar tabs and online purchases.
Prior to his arrest, Villarreal stepped down as the FFA program’s president and resigned from Mission CISD, where he was a teacher.
Before getting arrested Villarreal found a new job teaching at Valley View ISD, where he was still employed as of last month — though he’s no longer allowed to participate in fundraising activities.
Two other finance-related crimes also broke the top ten.
The fourth most-read story reported in January one of Rosa Maria Barrera’s multiple arrests.
Barrera used to run a flower shop in Peñitas and allegedly stole tens of thousands of dollars from customers — including La Joya ISD — by charging their credit cards without their permission.
So far Barrera has been arrested four times this year, most recently in October.
Another arrest came in at number 10.
In June police arrested Cristina Reyna, who allegedly broke the law by trying to get the county to pay her with indigent defense funds for representing herself in court last year even though she’s not an attorney.
Barrera denies the allegations.
The last story in the top ten dealt with the macabre.
The seventh top story of the year reported on a lawsuit filed by six siblings against Memorial Funeral Home in Edinburg this August.
The siblings alleged that the funeral home cremated their mother after her death earlier this year and mixed up her ashes.
The family became aware of the alleged mixup when two different siblings retrieved two different sets of ashes from the funeral home and were told there was no way to distinguish their mother’s ashes from a stranger’s.
Memorial denies the allegations.