Mary Cantrell

14 hours ago | bigbendsentinel.com | Mary Cantrell

MARFA — Marfa City Council members met Tuesday to discuss next steps regarding the vacant city manager position, raising police officer pay, the El Cosmico expansion project and the reopening of the Marfa Activities Center (MAC) pool for the summer months. Mayor Manny Baeza, Mayor Pro Tem Raul Lara and council members Mark Morrison and Mark Cash were present. Council members Travis Acreman and Eddie Pallarez were absent.

14 hours ago | bigbendsentinel.com | Mary Cantrell

TRI-COUNTY — School accountability ratings from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for the 2022-23 school year were finally released late last month, resulting in an overall increase of D and F ratings across the state. While it is nuanced, Big Bend area districts generally either maintained their ratings or saw lower scores.

2 weeks ago | bigbendsentinel.com | Mary Cantrell

MARFA — Mayor Manny Baeza and Public Utilities Director Chuck Salgado are refuting claims made by Councilmember Travis Acreman that the previous city manager was fired for being a “whistleblower.” Acreman went public with the accusations in a letter to the editor in last week’s Big Bend Sentinel, claiming Andrea Walter was terminated for discovering instances of “willful mismanagement,” primarily in the water and streets departments.

2 weeks ago | bigbendsentinel.com | Mary Cantrell

Plus other Marfa ISD personnel updatesMARFA — The Marfa ISD School Board voted on Monday to renew an administrator contract for Arturo Alferez for the 2025-26 school year. Alferez has served as the interim superintendent since the summer of 2023. The board also approved a temporary interim superintendent stipend agreement for Alferez. It was not immediately clear what that agreement entails. As of October 2024, Alferez was making $85,000 annually.

2 weeks ago | bigbendsentinel.com | Mary Cantrell

MARFA — The Marfa Studio of Arts classroom at Marfa Elementary School was a flurry of activity last Friday afternoon as pre-K students took sculpting tools, rolling pens, spray bottles and paint brushes dipped in colorful glazes to their newly-formed clay creations. Many of the seven young artists — who constructed a bowl, an igloo and a “daddy penguin” — sat on their knees in metal chairs in order to reach the top of the wooden work table blanketed in stained canvas.