Rick Unruh, a retired media specialist at both Northside and
Houston County High Schools, is the new Houston County Board of Education
representative for District 1. On Tuesday, the board unanimously approved Unruh
to complete the term of Tom Walmer, who resigned his position one month ago.
At the time of his resignation, Walmer was the board’s
chairman. Marianne Melnick, previously the vice-chair, presided over her first
meeting as the school board’s chairperson. Ron Wilson is now the vice-chair.
Unruh, who spent 15 years as a choral teacher at Northside
before going into the media specialist field in 1995, was one of five people
who applied for the District 1 appointment. He retired in December, 2012.
Board member Jim Maddox said they had five quality
candidates, all dedicated to the community, and that he appreciated all of
their willingness to put their name out there to serve. To those who did not
get the position, Maddox said he knows they will continue to look for ways to
serve education locally.
One other open position was filled Tuesday by the Houston
school board. Cindy Flesher was unanimously approved as the new assistant
superintendent for school operations. The executive director for elementary
operations, Flesher replaces Linda Horne, who announced her retirement last
month.
The school board also voted to name the county’s newest
elementary school Langston Road Elementary.
For the McConnell-Talbert Stadium renovation project, the
board granted Flint Energies a right-of-way easement to install a new
underground electrical line at the site.
In three separate new business items, the board approved the
purchase of document cameras (830 at $455 each), desktop computers (2,420,
2,400 for students at $704.31 each and 20 administrative at $711.31 each) and
22-inch desktop monitors (2,420 at $112 each).
When all three votes were completed, Wilson said it showed
that Houston County is upgrading and keeping up with technology. Maddox added
that, while the total cost is more than $2.2 million, that number came in under
budget and is covered by SPLOST funds.
Board member Skip Dawkins’ nomination as district director
for District 12 of the Georgia School Board Association was also approved.
Dawkins said afterwards that the Houston board is a family, even at times when
the members need to “fuss” at each other. In the end, he said they all come out
as one and that it is a pleasure for him to be a part of it.
During board member comments, Maddox brought up a national
survey that showed teacher satisfaction rates lower than they were five years
ago. One of the reasons given, he said, was how much more complex the job is
becoming. Maddox qualified his remarks stating that he didn’t know how much
input from Houston County was a part of the survey, but added that the strength
of this school system is its people, especially the teachers.
Maddox’s main conclusion was that he doesn’t want to see
local teachers retiring due to stress even when so much is put on them from
state, federal and societal sources.
Superintendent Robin Hines said educators have had to do
more with less lately and that there is no nobler profession than that of
teaching, be it in the classroom or in administration. He pointed out that the
positive results from Houston County students speak for themselves, and that
people do want to come here as evident by the recent job fair that saw an
estimated 750 people in attendance.
HHJ News
