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Hermleigh ISD trustee Joe Taylor (left) shook hands with Cassie Petty after she was officially hired as the school district’s new superintendent during Monday night’s school board meeting.
Hermleigh ISD officially has a new superintendent after Cassie Petty signed a two-year contract to head the school district during a board of trustees’ meeting Monday.
Petty, formerly the principal at Post Elementary School, will be paid $95,000 a year, officials said.
She succeeds Brent Dawson, who resigned in October after two years with the school district.
Petty was selected from among 30 candidates and three finalists for the position. Hermleigh trustees named her the lone finalist in late February, but had to wait a state-mandated 21 days before having her sign a contract.
Trustee Joe Taylor said there were a variety of reasons the board selected Petty to be the new superintendent.
“For one thing, she’s a West Texan, which means she knows the area,” Taylor said. “The next thing is that her interview with us was very impressive. Plus, we talked to people at Post ISD, and she was highly recommended by them.”
Petty, whose first day on the job at Hermleigh will be March 25, said she was excited to get to work.
“I would say I’m more excited than nervous,” she said. “I figured it was time. I was a campus principal for nine years and I felt I am ready to be a superintendent.”
Interim Superintendent Skip Casey, who was hired shortly after Dawson’s resignation, will stay on for a short time to help familiarize Petty with her new duties.
“I’ve truly enjoyed it,” Casey said of his time at Hermleigh. “This is just a little too far from home, but I’ve really enjoyed the people and the kids here.”
In other business, trustees voted 6-1 to extend Principal Amber Palmer’s contract by a year, with board president Roy Gill voting against the extension, and renewed all but two teacher contracts for the coming school year.
They took no action on the contracts of Justin Howard and Stacy Cullins.