Valley superintendents respond to Gov. Abbott's executive order ending statewide mask mandate 1 month 16 hours 59 minutes ago Wednesday, March 03 2021 Mar 3, 2021 March 03, 2021 9:39 PM March 03, 2021 in News - Local Share: After following strict safety protocols throughout the entire school year, some Valley educators were left with concerns following Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order on Tuesday. "The mask gives us a sense of security and safety," Hidalgo Independent School District Superintendent Xavier Salinas said. "The cases are high still. I think that with only 5% of Texans being vaccinated at this time, we should wait a little bit longer, because this is just going to start the whole epidemic again."