Candidates vying for three spots on Weslaco school board

WESLACO - Two out of three Weslaco Independent School District board seats are up for grabs this election season.

There are three candidates each vying for the Place 1 and 2 positions, while Place 3 is a two-candidate race between incumbent Raymond Givilancz and Orlando Rodriguez.

Oscar Caballero, Eric Castañeda and Erasmo Lopez are competing for Place 1 while Ivan Perez, Joel Casares and Richard Charles Sellman square off in the Place 2 race, which will be decided May 9.

Givilancz has been on the school board for six years and is striving for his third term. Givilancz has spent the last 20 years as an air-conditioner mechanical contractor, including five years running his own business.

 
Rodriguez has served as a full-time and volunteer fire fighter for more than 20 years and is also an Emergency Medical Technician/Intermediate. Rodriguez also has spent seven years with Hidalgo County Head Start working with adult education.

The winner of the Place 1 race will replace Joe Marines, who has held the position since 1997 but decided not to seek re-election.
Lopez, a lifelong resident of Weslaco and Weslaco High School graduate (1978), has worked in the construction field for more than 30 years and owns L&G Concrete Construction.

Castañeda, 28, previously worked for child protective services and is currently employed as a life scan operator for L1 Identity Solutions. Caballero is an accountant executive with Hygeia Dairy Product. 

Perez is seeking for his second-term after being elected in Place 2 in 2006. He works as an attorney at Jones & Crane Attorney in Harlingen, while Casares is a state inspector for Texas Department of Agriculture. Casares, a lifelong Weslaco resident, ran unsuccessfully for Place 4 three years ago. Sellman is the owner of Depot Crop Insurance in Progreso. The business has been open for the last decade.