The Demopolis City Schools System Board of Education held a called meeting at the central office on August 16 in which the board only handled one piece of business.

Annette Gwin, Culinary Arts teacher at Demopolis High School, tendered her resignation effectively immediately. The board approved the resignation.

Gwin, a 16-year employee of DCSS, and her students staffed several events in Demopolis and around Marengo County while providing food service and on-the-job training for the students.

The culinary arts program will be discontinued according to the DCSS five-year Capital Plan approved by the board during the 2016-2017 school year.

While the culinary arts program is being phased out, family and consumer sciences class that include cooking will still have classes.

The difference between having the career tech program is that the program requires a student to have three classes in a two-year period within that program.

Hospitality and tourism is the foundational class while Culinary Arts I and Culinary Arts II were the classes a student needed in the program. DHS will offer family and consumer sciences classes for students interested in cooking, but not the full program. To continue the other courses, the board will seek a new teacher to fill the vacancy.

The next regular school board meeting is set for August 21 at 5:15 p.m.

(This article originally appeared in the Saturday, August 19, print edition of the Demopolis Times.)