The son of the late John Clark has been chosen to fill his father”s vacant seat on the Lowndes County School District Board of Education.
The board voted unanimously during a special called meeting Thursday to install Brian Clark as interim District 2 representative for the remainder of 2010. John Clark passed away from natural causes at his home in Steens July 23.
Brian Clark says he agreed to take the position at the recommendation of District 1 representative Jane Kilgore to honor his father.
“I think it”s an honor to fill my dad”s seat and I want to do what”s best for the kids in our county,” said Clark.
He will have the option to serve just the remainder of his father”s term, which runs to the end of 2010, or qualify for the November election to begin a new six-year term. The qualifying period for the Districts 1 and 2 school board elections runs from Aug. 4 to Sept. 3. The election will be held in November of this year and the winner will be installed in January.
“I just want to fill the spot for now and see how that goes. I want to see how the next few meetings go,” said Clark.
The board”s regularly scheduled August meeting will be Clark”s first experience with education administration. The 32-year-old 4-County Electric Power Association accountant doesn”t have any formal experience in education, but spoke with his father frequently about district business.
“I”ve been talking to my dad about stuff that”s going on. I”m probably going to need some catching up with Miss Jane (Kilgore) and the other board members but I have a pretty good understanding of what”s gone on in the past,” said Clark.
Kilgore asked Clark prior to Thursday”s meeting, which Clark did not attend, if he would be interested in taking his father”s place. She describes Clark as a “very intelligent young man with roots in Lowndes County.” Allegra Brigham, former CEO at 4-County Electric and current interim president at Mississippi University for Women, also praised Clark as a “great employee” and predicted he”ll do a “great job” as a board member.
LCSD Superintendent Mike Halford, who was a friend of John Clark, has known Brian for years.
“He”s a very bright young man. He”s quiet and soft spoken and was always studious in school,” said Halford.
He said Brian will have a lot of catching up to do, but added that the most experienced board members “learn something new every day.”
During Thursday”s meeting the board also approved the hiring of 31 certified and non-certified employees and six resignations, retirements or terminations.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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