After three years leading Southwest Independent School District, Superintendent Jeanette Ball is resigning from the job.
On Wednesday, school board trustees accepted Ball’s resignation and appointed Deputy Superintendent Brandon Crisp as acting superintendent.
“What has happened today is a mutual agreement between this board and our superintendent,” said board president Sylvester Vasquez Jr., getting emotional as he spoke. “Southwest ISD board is extremely thankful for your dedication. You will be grieved forever.”
Longtime Trustee Ida Sudolcan congratulated Ball on her retirement from the district between tears.
“Your love for our children was evident in everything you did. You never stopped searching for ways to make Southwest ISD better,” said Sudolcan.
It’s unclear when her last official day is, but Crisp will take over as acting superintendent starting on Thursday, Aug. 6.
Crisp started as a teacher at Somerset ISD in 1998 and joined SWISD in 2009 where he later moved into district administration in purchasing, operations, business and finance, working his way up to deputy superintendent in 2023.
A second exit for Ball
Ball’s departure from SWISD isn’t her first time unexpectedly leaving a school district.
In November of 2022, Ball resigned as superintendent from Judson ISD, where she first took the helm in 2018. Her contract at Judson didn’t expire until January of 2025.
Her replacement at Judson, Rob Milton Fields, was fired earlier this year for allegedly endangering the welfare of students and financial mismanagement, and the district is currently under the leadership of Interim Superintendent Ann Dixon.
By February of 2023, Ball became superintendent at SWISD. Her contract was set to expire on June 30, 2027.
At the time, Ball said her split from Judson was amicable but was excited about working at SWISD, where she started her education career as a teacher in 1995.
A few months later in 2023, the SWISD community passed a $250 million bond with 71% of the vote.
SWISD is a semi-rural district, serving around 15,000 students and stretching from right inside Loop 410 to towns right outside of San Antonio such as Von Ormy, Lacoste and Lytle.
While other area school districts have been losing students for years, SWISD is one of the few that’s been growing. The district is also projecting a $4.4 million budget deficit going into the 2026-27 school year, which starts Aug. 24.
Ball was making $271,950 a year plus benefits, according to the most recent version of her employment contract with SWISD.
She’s also the fourth school district superintendent in San Antonio to resign their post since January.
Then-superintendent for North East ISD Sean Maika resigned in January, followed a few months later by Jaime Aquino from San Antonio ISD and John Craft from Northside ISD. NEISD and SAISD already found permanent replacements and NISD currently has an interim leader.
Ball, now part of that list of exiting superintendents, said leaving SWISD was bittersweet, but it’s a move she felt compelled to do.
“I tell people every day: be bold, be courageous, do something different,” said Ball, after the board approved her resignation. “So I myself have to take my own advice and do something different.
I’m going to venture on to a different opportunity… God has always opened different doors for me, but it is not easy.”
This story first appeared in the San Antonio Report.
