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The Mount Airy News
Elkin school board to name new superintendent Nov. 16
The Elkin Board of Education is ready to hire a new superintendent — but board members are keeping the name secret until a meeting scheduled for next week. Officials with the school system said a new superintendent for Elkin City Schools is expected to be in place for the start of the calendar year. The board has been working since the summer to recruit and hire a replacement for Dr. Steve Hall, who left the position in June to assume the superintendent’s role in Surry County. The Elkin school board hired North Carolina School Board Association consultant Sam Thorp to aid with the search and hiring process. On Monday, Nov. 16 the board has scheduled a special called meeting in the media center at Elkin High School beginning at 6:30 p.m. A closed session will be held first, at 6 p.m. for the board to finalize discussions. In open session the board will officially vote on the new hire and sign the contract ahead of announcing the new leader and a welcome reception, according to officials. The name of the new superintendent will not released until the contract is signed at the Nov. 16 meeting. The new superintendent is expected
The Mount Airy News
Veterans Day 'about real people'
Veterans Day is an occasion filled with flag waving, lofty speeches and other forms of color and pageantry, but really boils down to something more basic, according to speakers at a holiday program in Mount Airy. “Today is about real people,” Staff Sgt. Steven Munoz of the U.S. Marines Corps told a crowd gathered Wednesday at Blackmon Amphitheatre for the city’s annual Veterans Day service. “Veterans Day is not simply another holiday on the calendar,” added Munoz, who is assigned to the Marines’ local recruiting unit. “It’s a reminder that freedom is precious.” Among the legions of service members who have marched into battles worldwide are actual human beings with feelings, souls and families whose lives matter, Munoz indicated. “We may never know every veteran’s story,” the special speaker acknowledged, but Veterans Day is a time for letting it be known that their stories mean something and aren’t forgotten. Military members often enter the service for “something bigger than themselves,” Munoz said. “And that affects much more than the person wearing the uniform,” he said of how family members must deal with long absences by those in the military who miss birthdays, graduations and other important events. Some who eventually
The Mount Airy News
Leonard wins school board seat, after provisionals
DOBSON — Kyle Leonard has become the apparent winner of a Mount Airy Board of Education race, subject to an official vote canvass that hasn’t altered the outcome of any local election in recent memory. Leonard, a Republican, was a slim (19-vote) winner on Nov. 3 when unofficial results were posted on Election Night, and through a Tuesday count of provisional ballots gained a bit of a “cushion” to make that a 22-vote margin. Both he and Democrat Tim Matthews, a longtime Mount Airy pharmacist, were seeking Matthews’ at-large seat on the city school board which the latter has held since 1996 and presently chairs. Leonard, a local financial adviser, also is an incumbent who now represents District A. Due to moving out of that district and wanting to remain on the board, he was prompted to seek Matthews’ at-seat post open to residents throughout the city school district. After the Election Night result favoring Leonard by a vote count of 1,763 to 1,744, Tuesday’s tally of provisional ballots awaited. Voters cast provisional ballots during an election whenever questions arise about their eligibility to vote, which can include not presenting a photo ID upon arriving at a polling site. Those