Gilmer’s new Board of Education unanimously elected James Waters as its new chairperson during the BOE meeting last night. Waters is one of three new additions to the Board, along with Angela Thomas and Jim Parmer.

“I’m thankful they put the trust in me to do this and I am going to do my best to do a good job to try and lead this school system into not a better education but a higher education,”

Waters said.

The Board also elected a new vice chairperson during the meeting.

Both Thomas and Gary Hyde nominated different Board Members for the position. Thomas nominated fellow new Board Member Jim Parmer as vice-chair, while Hyde nominated Board Member Michael Bramlett. Parmer won in a 3-2 vote.

Hyde, whose nomination fell through, was still supportive of the new chairs.

“I’m going to support them in their positions as best I can,”

he said.

Additionally, Superintendent Bryan Dorsey also welcomed the new board.

“I’m very excited about working with our new board. I think there has been a great start. You can tell that we have the interest of our students at heart while remembering that it is important to take care of the constituent’s tax base. I think we are going to have a great board that’s going to do great things for our community and for our students. I’m very excited to work with Mr. Waters and Mr. Parmer as Chair and Vice-Chair and know that we will all be moving our system forward.”