Published: October 20, 2009 03:13 pm      

Cleburne’s Callender to take over Keene ISD

By a unanimous vote, Keene school trustees voted Monday night to name Dr. Darlene Callender the lone finalist for the KISD superintendent’s post being vacated by Kevin Sellers.

Sellers recently accepted a job as assistant superintendent at Joshua.

Being the lone finalist means that Callender, presently assistant superintendent at Cleburne, and the Keene board have 21 days to come to a contractual agreement and iron out other details. At that point, Callender will officially become superintendent.

Her starting date will also be impacted by whether Cleburne ISD allows her to break her current contract.

That, in turn, will impact when Sellers is able to start his new job at Joshua.

“My start date there is Jan. 4 at the very latest,” he said Tuesday.

Keene trustees selected Callender from among 30 candidates for the job, Sellers said.

A three-year superintendent, Sellers was principal for six years at Keene High School and before that an assistant principal and teacher in Cleburne ISD.

Keene had extended Sellers’ three-year contract last January.

Sellers’ Joshua hiring was approved in August.

“When he can be released from his contract at Keene depends on his board,” Joshua Superintendent Ray Dane said in August. “We may not get him until January. We’re going to be flexible about his start date. I’ve had my eye on Mr. Sellers for two or three years. I’ve known him for 10 or 11 years.”

Dane said Sellers would become part of a restructured central office at Joshua.

Callender, who oversaw Cleburne ISD’s department of curriculum and instruction last year, became assistant superintendent of special programs this summer, taking on state and federal programs and compliance issues. She took over many of the responsibilities of Janet Walker, former executive director of instruction and student support, who resigned from Cleburne ISD to oversee federal and state program compliance at Everman ISD.

Callender came to CISD from Dripping Springs, where she was assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. She has served in public education for 27 years, including 10 in administration as curriculum director in Decatur ISD and Mabank ISD, and as assistant superintendent with Dripping Springs.

Her campus-level administrative experiences include assistant principal with Cypress-Fairbanks ISD and a principal’s position at Spring Branch ISD.

A native of Fort Worth, she began her educational career as a teacher in Houston ISD and also taught in Alief ISD and Cypress-Fairbanks ISD.