The school board reorganized its ranks at the regular meeting last Thursday, as it does the first week of every September, choosing a chairman, vice-chairman and assistant secretary for the upcoming year’s term.Charles Robinson, board member from the second district, was re-elected DeKalb County Board of Education Chairman by a 5-2 vote.The duties of the chairman include assisting the director in preparing meeting agendas, presiding at meetings of the board, the appointing of committees authorized by the board, functioning as chairman of the executive committee, the countersigning of all warrants authorized by the board and issued by the director, to conduct board hearings, to prepare the school budget with the director, to authorize use of mechanical check-writing equipment, and to certify the value of surplus property valued at less than $250.Robinson was nominated by third district board member Kenny Rhody to be re-elected as chairman,Fourth district member Billy Miller also nominated Bruce Parsley, who represents the sixth district, as a candidate for the position.The School Board Chairman must receive a two-thirds majority of board members’ votes to earn the post.When the vote was held, Robinson garnered five votes, enough to clinch the chairman’s seat.Rhody, first district member John David Foutch, fifth district member W.J. (Dub) Evins, III, seventh district member Johnny Lattimore and Robinson, voting for himself, rounded out the tally for the returning chairman.Miller and Parsley cast votes against Robinson. Rhody was re-elected to the Vice-Chairman’s seat with no opposition, as was first district member John David Foutch to the assistant secretary position.The vice-chairman is required to assume the duties of chairman in the chairman’s absence, and to function as chairman until a new chairman can be elected in the case that the seat is vacated.The director of schools serves as secretary of the board and the assistant secretary assists the director when needed in conducting all the board’s correspondence and keeping the board’s records.DCHS soccer coach Dylan Kleparek addressed the board, reiterating his need for an assistant coach for the boys’ and girls’ soccer teams at the high school, which was an issue in recent budget talks.After some discussion, it was decided that the matter should be studied further at an upcoming board workshop and that Kleparek should be invited to attend the meeting and offer his input.Director of Schools Mark Willoughby also presented his monthly report on personnel to the board.Willoughby reported that six people had been employed since the last meeting, including Kelly Burgess as a Special Education Teacher at DCHS, Bonnie Rigsby as an English as a Second Language Assistant at Smithville Elementary School, Doris Grah as an English as a Second Language Assistant at DeKalb Middle School/ DCHS and Cynthia Dias as a Pre-K Assistant at Smithville Elementary.Mollie Hendrixson was hired to replace Kathy Bryant as a teacher at Northside Elementary and Ashley Smith is replacing Julie Vincent as a teacher at Northside.The approved substitute teacher list includes Ellen Ammons, Guylene Atnip, Brenda Bandy, Lacey Beshearse, Jennifer Braswell, Carolyn Caldwell, Shannon Cantrell, Brenda Colwell, Julie Cook, Bethany Davis, Donna Davis, Linda Dean, Sally Exum, Debbie France, Ann Frazier, Holly Frazier, Kelly Frazier, Wayne Fuson, Leigh Fuson, Sherrie Giles, Johnna Goff, Natalie Green, Chelsea Grissom, Susan Guerin, Vicki Haggard, Judith Hale, Amber Hawkins, Letitia Henry, Betty Hickey, Ester Holder, Michelle Hoyle, Shirley Ingram, Milinda League, Linda Luna, Kelly Merriman, Sharon Moffett, Diana Moon, Chris Moore, Joel Moore, Stephen Moore, Eden Nokes, Carl Northcutt, Angela Osment, Elaine Perricone, Justin Poteete, Ivadell Randolph, Virginia Rose, Michael Shaw, Mary Nell Summers, Jessica Sims, Wanda Vickers, and Kim YoungKathy Bryant was transferred to the assistant principal position at DeKalb Middle.Sabrina Farler was transferred to DeKalb West. as assistant principal.Karen Knowles was transferred to the assistant principal job at Smithville Elementary.Julie Vincent was transferred to the assistant principal spot at Northside and Sherree Macemon was transferred to Smithville Elementary to replace Karen Knowles as a teacher.The board also adopted a resolution of appreciation honoring bus drivers at the meeting.The resolution reads:"Whereas, bus drivers must transport students to and from a variety of school sites and assure their safety while passengers are on the school bus; andWhereas, bus drivers deal with many challenging situations each day including bad weather, traffic and sometimes unruly students; andWhereas, bus drivers have many more responsibilities than just transporting students, including properly greeting and encouraging students, handling sick children, reporting disciplinary cases, reporting the need for bus maintenace, and much more; andWhereas, school bus drivers continuously dedicate time to learning and increasing their knowledge about new rules, regulations and safety procedures in order to keep our transportation system among the best in the state; andWhereas, the superintendent and school board greatly appreciate the commitment and dedication of our school bus drivers and wish to honor them for their service to our school systemTherefore, be it resolved that the DeKalb County Board of Education hereby establishes September 15, 2011, as Bus Driver Appreciation Day in DeKalb County Schools; andBe it further resolved that the Board encourages students, parents and staff to join us in expressing appreciation to the bus drivers for all they do.”