Job resigns from JISD board
By GEORGIA PURDY Correspondent

The Jasper Independent School District Board of Trustees accepted, with regret, the resignation of President Brenda Job at their regular meeting Monday night and decided not to appoint a new member at this time because it is so close to the trustee election to be held in May.

Instead, the Board reorganized, appointing vice president Eddie Hopkins to serve as president, James Riley, vice president; Joe Breckinridge will remain in his position as secretary.

Job, who was not present at the meeting, said her reasons were personal and had nothing to do with the board not the school district.

"I have loved being on the school board," Job said. "I have learned so much and the experience has been wonderful. Right now, I just have too many things going on in my life. Since it is close to the upcoming election, I felt this was an appropriate choice for me."

The Board approved the second Saturday in May, May 10, as the uniform election date for school trustees. Those whose terms expire are Eddie Hopkins and James Riley plus the slot formerly occupied by Brenda Job.

Applications for a place on the ballot must be filed not less than 62 days prior to May 10 and are to be submitted to Linda Coleman at the JISD Administration Office beginning yesterday.

Superintendent Bill Dean requested and the Board approved two assistant superintendent positions: Gwen Guilford, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Chris Coleman, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources.

In an unusual move, trustees heard a Level III, Parent/Student Discipline Complaint in open session. Those are usually heard in closed session but Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Lewis, grandparents of a student involved in a fight at Jasper High School, requested an open hearing.

The case presented by the Lewis couple hinged on the amount of time their grandson was to serve in the Alternative Education Center and what they perceived as administrators refusing to hear his side of the story before setting punishment.

The student had already served 20 days when he was informed that there would be an additional 120 days. The grandparents said they were not informed and that the punishment violated terms of the official student handbook.

After hearing the Lewis family's testimony, the Board went into closed session for deliberations, then reconvened in open session to announce their decision to overturn the case and remand it to administrators to choose more appropriate punishment.