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The five members of the Demopolis Board of Education were recognized at the Jan. 18 meeting. January is School Board Appreciation Month, and board members were publicly thanked for what they do for the school system. Each member received a personalized gift basket from one of the four schools in the district.

Superintendent Tony Willis said there are a lot of things the board does that many people don’t realize or understand.

“They have to go through training and there are a lot of things they have to do that most don’t understand. And it’s not some big, compensated job either,” said Willis. “It is a service they do to our community. The headaches and the things they have to struggle with and the decisions they have to make, is something very few people are willing to do.”

The Demopolis Middle School (DMS) made a basket for Carolyn Moore, Demopolis High School (DHS) made a basket for Bobby Armstead, Betsy Stephens received her basket from Westside Elementary School (WES), Board Chairman Harris Hurst received his basket from U.S. Jones Elementary, and Olen Kerby received a gift from the Central Office staff.

In addition to the gift baskets, U.S. Jones Elementary created a video thanking each board member and showing their appreciation for everything they do for Demopolis City Schools.

Also recognized during the meeting was WES bookkeeper, Sherron Brown. Brown was named the Secretary of the Year for District 5, by the Council of Leaders in Alabama Schools organization (CLAS). The CLAS organization takes nominations from schools and selects a State Secretary Bookkeeper of the year for the state. There are eight Board of education districts in Alabama and each district has a representative.

“Mrs. Brown was selected to represent District 5. It is the largest of the eight districts. It covers all of West Central Alabama and she represented the district at a conference in Huntsville,” said Willis. “So congratulations to Mrs. Brown. We appreciate you being here.”