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Monahans News: Board names Richardson finalist Monahans News: Richardson hired to lead school district (Click any
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Board names Richardson finalist
-- Superintendent search ends with Olney man's OK
by Bill Modisett, Monahans News, July 17, 2003Keith Richardson of Olney, the finalist in the superintendent search for Monahans-Wickett-Pyote Independent School District, said Tuesday he plans to speak to the Olney School Board during a Thursday meeting about his impending move to Monahans.
Richardson, 48, said he hopes to be able to arrange his move to the new job "as soon as possible. It's going to be quick.
"I'm excited about it and my family is excited about it," Richardson said of the move. "We've visited Monahans and checked with a lot of different sources."
The Olney superintendent was identified as the finalist in the superintendent search during a special meeting of the Monahans-Wickett-Pyote Independent School District Board of Trustees Thursday night.
Richardson, who has served four years as superintendent of the Olney Independent School District located east and north of Abilene in North Central Texas, will become the new superintendent in Monahans after the state-mandated 21-day waiting period. He is expected to be in place in Monahans by Sept. 1, although School Board President Larry "Bear" Bryant said Richardson will likely help the board in preparation of next year's budget and do other preparatory work prior to taking office.
"The board has spent a lot of time and effort in the superintendent search process," Bryant said. I'm very proud of all of them.
"TASB (Texas Association of School Boards) helped a lot in the process. They not only got input from the faculty and school employees, but they also included the entire community. So it was a team effort by everyone and through this process, we feel like we have the best person as finalist for superintendent." he said.
Prior to taking the superintendent's job in Olney, Richardson was in the same position in the Guthrie Consolidated School District from 1991-1999, and superintendent of Ector County Independent School District from 1989-1991.
Earlier, the Lometa native served as principal of Blue Ridge High School at Blue Ridge, principal of Hubbard Junior High School in Hubbard, a teacher and coach at Smithson Valley High School in New Braunfels and teacher and coach at Bulverde Middle School in New Braunfels.
Richardson and his wife, Bonnie, have three children. Brandon, 22, an SMU graduate who works for Blockbuster in Dallas; Chase, 19, a firefighter in Missouri City; and Emily, 11, a sixth grader.
TASB was employed to conduct the search after Stephens announced at the end of March he had accepted a job as superintendent in Borger.
The association published a questionnaire in The Monahans News to determine what qualifications residents in the community wanted in a new superintendent. Then in late April, community meetings were conducted with various elements of the population.
The goal, school officials indicated, was to have the new superintendent hired and in place by Sept. 1.
Richardson hired to lead school district --
Superintendent now in place in Monahans
by Bill Modisett, Editor -- Monahans News -- August 7, 2003Keith Richardson took up residence Thursday in the office of superintendent of the Monahans-Wickett-Pyote Independent School District. He was officially hired during a special session of the board of trustees Thursday morning.
Richardson's wife, Bonnie, was hired as a teacher at Sudderth Elementary School.
Richardson has been serving as superintendent at the Olney Independent School District, where his wife has been teaching.
The Richardsons were two of seven personnel hired during the special session. Others included Sarah Carrell, who will teach English and coach at Walker Junior High; Dawn Tarver, special education at Walker; Tyler Wiggains, band director at Walker; Chad Smith, new principal at Cullender Kindergarten; and Mary Smith; teacher at Tatom Elementary.
On another matter, the board approved application to the National School Fitness Foundation for a grant to be used to purchase exercise equipment.
Interim Supt. Jerry Larned told board members participation in the national program "would be great for our physical education classes."
Richardson, who was familiar with the program at other school districts, agreed it will be a good program for the local school district.
Under the program, Larned said, Monahans-Wickett-Pyote will receive a total of $247,497.34 in exercise equipment and for the curriculum. He said the district, which has already been approved for the program, will receive about $8,500 per month for the program and at the end of three years the equipment will belong to the district.
Larned said cost to the district will only be $5,000 to $6,000. The board approved using the old building behind Walker Junior High School to house the equipment.
In other action, the board:
* Approved student handbooks, athletic policies handbooks and employee handbooks for the 2003-2004 school year.
* Changed the date and time of the next school board meeting to 9 a.m. Aug. 19.
