Dr. Abelardo Saavedra

Dr. Abelardo Saavedra, Superintendent of Schools for the Houston Independent School District and member of the Sam Houston Area Council Board of Directors, has agreed to return as the Chair of the School Night for Join Scouting.

Dr. Saavedra was appointed Superintendent of Schools for the Houston Independent School District on December 9, 2004. Dr. Saavedra joined HISD in February 2001 as the Southeast District Superintendent. Beginning in August 2002, until his appointment as Interim Superintendent in June 2004, he served as the district's Executive Deputy Superintendent for School Support Services. Prior to joining the HISD family he was the Superintendent of Schools in his native Corpus Christi from 1993 to 2000.

Dr. Saavedra began his career in Corpus Christi as a public school teacher and rose steadily through the ranks, serving as an assistant principal, as a principal, and in numerous administrative roles in both the instructional and business divisions. During his tenure as Superintendent, Corpus Christi ISD received state and national recognition for the development and adoption of "real-world academic standards" in all grade levels, and, owing to those standards, it was accorded "recognized" status by the Texas Education Agency. He has also taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston and Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi.

Dr. Saavedra earned Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees at Texas A&I University in Kingsville in 1972 and 1974, respectively, and completed his doctorate in School Administration at the University of Michigan in 1976. He has served as cochairman of the Texas Business and Education Coalition, on the board of directors of the Texas Academic Decathlon, as a member of the Governor's Task Force on Juvenile Justice, and on the legislative committee for the Texas Association of School Administrators. While in Corpus Christi, he served on the boards of the United Way, Boy Scouts of America, and South Texas Educational Research and Development Center and on the advisory board of the South Texas Public Broadcasting System. Since coming to Houston, he has been appointed to the boards of the Greater Houston Chapter of the Red Cross and the March of Dimes, and was also appointed to serve on the WorkSource Board of Directors by Houston Mayor Bill White. He participated in the fall 2003 class of the Center for Houston's Future and was in the American Leadership Forum's 2004-2005 class.

Dr. Saavedra is married to an elementary-school teacher. His older daughter graduated from the University of the Incarnate Word and his younger daughter graduated from high school in 2005.