L-E hires Ronnie Thompson as school leader

Trustees of Liberty-Eylau Independent School District hired Ronnie Thompson as superintendent during their regular meeting Tuesday.

Thompson, who is the superintendent at Hooks ISD, will take the top spot at L-EISD on July 1.

Current superintendent Roger Hailey joined L-E last summer and led the district through a successful $20.9 million bond election. He announced his retirement in May, stating that L-E needed a leader who would remain with the district as it grew. Board president Scott Berght said the trustees were excited about Thompson joining the Leopard team.

"As Mr. Hailey previously indicated, we need someone to come in here and commit long-term to be superintendent of our district and lead us toward the future," Berght said. "He brings a very strong background and resume and curriculum, and we feel that he will be a tremendous asset toward leading us to our vision and goals that we set forth as a board. We're glad to have him and bring him back home. He's one of ours."

Thompson is a L-E graduate who also began his teaching career there in 1989. He's been superintendent at Hooks since 2011 and was an assistant superintendent at Texarkana Independent School District. While at TISD, he served three years as executive director of school improvement. Thompson also held several positions at Texas High, including marketing education teacher, administrative intern, assistant principal and associate principal. He did not attend Tuesday's meeting, but when he was named lone finalist for the position last month, he expressed his happiness at returning to L-EISD.

"It means a lot to me as my career has grown it's good to come back home," he said in May.

In other business, trustees also approved the 2016-17 fiscal year budget and tax rate. No one signed up for the public hearing where Darla Moss, the district's chief financial officer, presented the figures. The adopted tax rate of $1.37 is an increase from the previous $1.26, resulting from voters approving the $20.9 bond election in May. The budget includes estimated revenues of $46.3 million and estimated expenditures of $46.7 million. Funds from the bond election, which will be made available in August, are included in these amounts.

District teachers will also see a raise next year. A teacher step increase of $500 for teachers at the top of the scale was approved, along with a 2.5 percent midpoint increase and a 1.25 percent increase for non-educators at the top of the scale.

Trustees also approved entering into a contract with Thacker Davis Architects of Longview for design services that were part of the bond election. Phillip Thacker created the drawings the district used to when proposing the bond, and those include the new building at the Primary School, plus additions to the Pre-K campus and the CTE building at the high school.

Several policy changes were approved, including FMF (local) regarding student activities. It changes the student handbook to state that a student who serves an in-school suspension can participate in school activities that day after school has ended. Superintendent Hailey also presented the first reading of the district's Disciplinary Grid, a tool he said would add uniformity and consistency to discipline.

"This is our best effort of administrative staff to put down consequences for conduct," Hailey said. "We firmly believe that building relationships with students is the best deterrent to deviant behavior."

The grid outlines exact outcomes for disciplining students, and includes directives for administrators to deal with specific situations.

The next regular meeting is scheduled for July 26.