By Richard Zowie
A familiar face is temporarily returning to the Fredericksburg Independent School District board of trustees.
Wayne Harrell was unanimously appointed during a Monday special meeting to fill the term of the late Jerry Durst. He will serve until the May 2015 election.
Durst, a longtime trustee who had been serving as the board’s vice president during the 2014-2015 school year, died Sept. 18.
Harrell said he won’t run for the open seat in 2015.
“I felt it was important to have new people come on the board, so I decided in 2010 not to run again and open it up for other people,” Harrell said.
Previously, Harrell served from 1998-2010 and spent two terms as the president and secretary and also served as the vice president.
While others were considered for the vacancy, FISD Superintendent Eric Wright said Harrell stood out.
“The board wanted someone who’d been previously elected and had experience, because it’s going to be a short tenure,” Wright said. “There’s a training aspect involved. Since he’s been on the board for multiple terms, we felt like it would be a smooth transition, given that we’re about to look at a school bond issue, too. He’s very familiar with the history of all the projects, and we felt he’d be a great asset.”
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