Mineola ISD welcomes new principals, finance director

By Phil Major
publisher@wood.cm
Posted 3/23/23

The administrative staff at Mineola ISD was filled out with several new hires Monday,

Trustees approved Chase Thomas as the new high school principal, Nicholas Kelley as the elementary vice …

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Mineola ISD welcomes new principals, finance director

Posted

The administrative staff at Mineola ISD was filled out with several new hires Monday,

Trustees approved Chase Thomas as the new high school principal, Nicholas Kelley as the elementary vice principal and Keith Sparkman as the assistant superintendent for business and finance.

Thomas comes to Mineola from Lindale ISD where he has been serving as the assistant junior high principal.

Superintendent Cody Mize said the district had five high-quality applicants for the post, and it was one of the toughest decision he has made, but Thomas rose to the top.

A 2002 Mineola High School graduate will be returning to his hometown to take over the role as the business manager.

Sparkman has been serving as high school principal in Winona and holds degrees in finance and business administration.

Kelley also comes from Lindale ISD where he has served as assistant band director and percussion instructor.

Thomas replaces Mike Sorenson who is retiring after 41 years in education.

Sparkman also replaces a longtime MISD employee, as William Bjork is also retiring.

Kelley fills the vacancy created when Angela Shine was named elementary principal to replace Brittany Thompson who is moving to junior high principal where Kendall Gould is also retiring.

Other new employees introduced Monday include new theater teacher Bryant Cox, a graduate of Van High School who studied under former Mineola theater teacher Larry Wisdom.

Donald Myers is the new percussion director for Mineola bands, coming from Wills Point where he held a similar position.

Mize also announced that high school Spanish teacher Coco Moffatt had rescinded her resignation and would continue teaching.

Resignations were approved from the following: Timothy Baggert, Brenna Gournay, Christine Grier, Heather Nutt and Cheyenne Meadors.

New teachers hired include Mackenzie May, Amanda Harris and Hannah Davis.

The contract of Dr. Tammy Willis as director of the Wood County Special Education Co-op was approved.

Teacher contracts for 2023-24 were also approved.