Steven Saldivar, shown with administrative secretary Terri Martin earlier this year, officially assumed superintendent duties for Big Spring Independent School District Wednesday. (HERALD file photo)

Saldivar, who was hired by BSISD trustees to fill the district's top administrative post in January, officially took the reins Wednesday.

He succeeds Michael Downes, who resigned in June 2008.

Dr. Michael Stevens, who has served the district as interim superintendent since shortly after Downes' resignation, will remain with the district in an advisory capacity until December, officials announced.

Saldivar came to BSISD as assistant superintendent in May 2008. Prior to that, he was assistant superintendent at Lamesa Independent School District for four years.

The Eldorado native has almost 20 years educational experience, mainly as a teacher, coach and administrator.

After graduating from Eldorado High School in 1986, he enrolled at Sul Ross State University in Alpine to pursue his first love — playing football.

“I went to college to play football,” he said earlier this year. “When I was out there, I started thinking, 'What am I going to do with the rest of my life?' I had a lot of teachers who were a big influence on me, so I decided to become a teacher and a coach.”

He ultimately obtained his bachelor's degree from Sul Ross, then a master's degree in education from the University of Houston at Victoria before pursuing his career in the classroom and athletic field.

Making the switch to administration, he said, almost came about by accident.

“It's funny,” he said. “I was teaching and coaching at Granado and was about to move to Crane to do the same thing there ... We had already sold our home and it was about two days before the moving vans arrived to haul our stuff to Crane when the (Granado ISD) superintendent came by the house and offered me the high school principal position.

“That's how my life as an administrator began,” he added. “Is it destiny? Is it providence? Who knows? All I do know is that's what happened.”

He stayed at Granado until 2005, when he accepted the assistant superintendent position at Lamesa ISD, and held that post until coming to Big Spring in 2008.

When the superintendent's post became vacant shortly after he arrived, Saldivar decided to try for the position.

“By already being here, I felt I had an advantage in that I knew the people and the system,” he said. “Being on the inside definitely helped. I can't say I was scared or intimidated at the thought of becoming superintendent. I was more excited by the opportunity than anything else.”

Not much changed during Saldivar's first official day on the job, he said.

“It honestly didn't feel any different — and I think that's a good thing,” Saldivar said. “Dr. Stevens is still here helping us out ... and we're dealing with the same issues, so, on my part, it really didn't feel any different.”

The major issue facing the district will be formulating a new budget. That task has been slightly hampered by the uncertainty of how much state revenue BSISD will receive.

“The templates we receive (from the state) keep changing,” he said. “But that's just part of what working through the budget is about.”

Another major issue is making sure the district has a full complement of teachers and administrators for the coming school year.

“We've hired almost all of the administrators we'll need for the new school year and we've hired a majority of the new teachers we'll need,” he said. “We're fortunate that we didn't have a large amount of turnover this year.”

With Saldivar's promotion, along with the recent hiring of Assistant Superintendent Danny Farrell and Executive Director for Instruction and Personnel Anne McClarty, the BSISD administration team is back at full strength.

Contact Staff Writer Steve Reagan at 263-7331 ext. 234 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it