Athens school board swears in members

By Angela Weatherford

May 16, 2008 06:59 pm

— The Athens school board at Thursday board meeting said hello to a new member, welcomed back an old member and reorganized its officers.
David Freeman and Bob Spears will continue serving as president and secretary of the board, respectively, on the Athens Independent School District Board of Trustees.
Raymond Williams was elected vice-president — a position formerly held by Eric Smith. Smith did not seek reelection, and Steve McElhany was elected on May 10 to replace him.
All three board members were nominated to their position by Jennie Mahmoud — who held on to her seat in last Saturday’s election. Each officer was unanimously selected.
During the meeting the board voted to allow AISD Superintendent Dr. Fred Hayes the ability to hire math and science teachers at career fairs.
“We are finding that schools who get the best teachers hire on the spot,” he told the board.
The district has been working to hire science and math teachers for the past few months. In that time, the board has agreed to give signing bonuses to new teachers.
In 2007 the Texas Education Agency passed new requirements for high school graduates. All students entering the ninth grade in 2007-2008 are now required to take four years of math and science classes.
Other action taken at the meeting included:
• the hiring of Lime Energy to replace all light fixtures in the district for better energy efficiency. The project is expected to take six to eight weeks;
• approval of the hiring of 15 new teachers and administrators. District officials say they will not release which campus the teachers are to work on at this time; and
• accepted the resignations of Michael Esparza (South Athens Elementary), Sandra Carter (Bel Air Elementary), Michelle Gandy (AHS), Laurie Dishman (Bel Air Elementary), Maureen Cullen (Dean of Instruction) and Chris Winn (AHS).