By Erica Thomas, managing editor
TRUSSVILLE — The committee in charge of selecting finalists for the next open Trussville City Schools Board of Education position is making progress. A position on the board will become available in May 2021, with member Stan Garret’s term expiring. The city council is tasked with selecting the next member, and they decided to come up with a committee to help select finalists.
The committee of five, which consists of two city council members (Lisa Bright and Alan Taylor), Mayor Buddy Choat, City HR Director Mandy Dixon, and BOE President Kathy Brown, reviewed 11 applications. Of those applications, two people remain in the running, according to Councilor Lisa Bright, who is the liaison to the BOE and is on the committee.
“We have just finished our interviews and now we will email the council,” said Bright. “We have our top two who we feel will do an awesome job and the other council members will have the opportunity to speak with them in person or on the phone and make their conclusion on who they think will make the best candidate.”
Council members will cast their vote with Mayor Buddy Choat, Bright said. The announcement on who will be the next BOE member will be made at the next City Council meeting, on Tuesday, March 9, 2021.
All resumes and applications submitted were shared with every council member, according to Bright. She said she was pleased with the number of candidates that applied.
“I was impressed there were that many and we had some incredible candidates,” Bright said. “It was a very tough decision.”
This was the first year the special committee has been a part of the BOE selection process. Bright said each member offered helpful insight and expertise.
“Actually having the school board president there was great because Kathy could fill in answers to questions that candidates had,” Bright said, “So, that was very helpful to have a school board member there. To have Mandy Dixon there as HR was very helpful because she was able to come up with good questions to ask and it just helped tremendously. I thought it was a really good process.”