Melissa Strother, the district representative for District 4 and the previous vice chair of the board, was selected to serve as the board chair for the next two years at the board meeting on Jan. 9. 

Strother will join District 3 Representative Velvet Edwards Poole, who was selected to serve as Vice Chair, as board officers for a two-year term. 

Dr. Dean Phinazee, the out going board chair, thanked the board for their work during his tenure as chair and wished Strother and Poole the best in their new roles. 

During Phinazee's time as chair, the board rolled-back the local property tax rate, earned the highest designation possible from the Georgia School Board Association and amassed a record reserve fund.