After 39 years working at Child Protective Services, Abilene Regional Director Sherrel Mathews will be replaced at the beginning of September.

She is one of four regional CPS directors who have been fired, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. A fifth in El Paso opted to retire.

The other fired regional directors work in South Texas; Central Texas; and counties ringing Houston.

Mathews heard the news Monday that she would be replaced. Her last day will be Sept. 9 when the new regional directors should be revealed, she said.

All 10 of the state's regional CPS directors had been required to reapply for their jobs, as a condition for keeping their employment, said Patrick Crimmins, state spokesman for the Department of Family and Protective Services, which oversees CPS.

He said the four new regional directors have not been hired yet, but the new 'regional leadership team is being finalized.'

The move is another signal that Henry 'Hank' Whitman, DFPS commissioner, seeks to introduce significant changes when it comes to the care of vulnerable children.

'This is a clear indication that the commissioner is serious about improving CPS as quickly as possible,' Crimmins said.

Georgina Martinez started Aug. 24 work as the new Region 10 director, which includes El Paso and far West Texas, Crimmins said. She replaced veteran CPS regional director Diana Barajas, who retired.

Officials gave Mathews no specific reason for her termination, she told the Reporter-News Wednesday, but she believes it is an attempt by the agency to show that they are serious about transforming CPS, which has extremely high staff turnover, voluminous worker case loads, and a lack of foster and other appropriate homes.

Recognizing that CPS is in 'a state of crisis,' it was determined that a look at whether the leadership in each region supports the vision for the agency needed to be made, Mathews said.

'The crisis at CPS is much bigger than changing leadership at the regional level,' she said. 'Until front-line staff are paid at a level that is commiserate with the difficulty of the work that they perform, turnover will continue, in my opinion. Until they're paid better, workers are not going to stay.'

Mathews served as Region 2 director for about 3 1/2 years.

When asked how her firing affected her personally, Mathews paused and said, her voice thick with emotion, 'My passion is and has always been protecting children in Region 2, and I believe that there is a very strong team in place in this region. I believe that commitment will continue.'

CPS has long contended with high turnover among caseworkers, low pay and plummeting morale. High-level managers, meanwhile, had continued to remain in place despite repeated instances of the state failing to protect children subject to abuse.

In Abilene, CPS came under fire in 2012 when a 22-month-old child, Tamryn Klapheke, died on Dyess Air Force Base from dehydration and malnutrition, the result of neglect. Her two sisters, 6-month-old Tatum and 3-year-old Taberlee, suffered similar neglect and were near death when found.

Three local CPS supervisors were fired and two were indicted on a charge of tampering with evidence in the case — Bit Whitaker and Gretchen Denny. CPS had closed the case on the Klapheke family days before the toddler died without making a final house visit, according to Reporter-News archives.