By Pete Kendall/reporter@trcle.com

Cleburne school trustees filled two vacant central office slots in a special called meeting Wednesday, hiring Tim Miller as assistant superintendent for education programs and Lylia King as executive director of curriculum and instruction.

King, who was principal at Smith Middle School, replaces Darlene Callender, who moved from curriculum and instruction to assistant superintendent with responsibility in federal compliance.

Bill Allen, an assistant principal at Smith, replaces King as principal. A team of staff members from the Smith faculty voted unanimously for Allen. Superintendent Dr. Ronny Beard, using his authority, immediately reassigned Allen to the top post.

Had the staff team not been able to choose between Allen and assistant principal Janet Helmcamp, the district would have selected a principal from outside the Smith ranks.

Miller has his education doctorate from the University of Texas, has 16 years teaching experience and is fully certified by the state.

King has her education doctorate from Baylor, 20 years teaching experience, and is fully certified by the state.

Miller essentially fills the position held by Carolyn Cody under former Superintendent Robert Damron. Cody retired last year.

“Dr. Miller will be the true assistant superintendent overseeing everything under the superintendent from curriculum to operations to whether the buses are on time,” said board President Stu Madison.

He said Beard “is under some pretty aggressive directives to get us to recognized status. We’ve been somewhat understaffed, and Dr. Miller will be a capable, young assistant superintendent.”

Miller’s résumé and references reflect strong leadership skills, Madison said.

“What I observed is a clear example of instructional leadership. He did the instructional and curriculum technology for the [San Antonio] Northeast ISD for six or seven years. That’s a district with 63,000 students. Understanding our curriculum and technology is going to be a cakewalk for him, but he’s going to be assigned additional things. He’ll have to lead our directors.”

Miller’s ambitions brought him to Cleburne.

“I think this is an opportunity for him to get to his personal next level,” Madison said. “He wants to be a superintendent some day.”

King’s primary duty, Madison said, “is to take the curriculum and instruction we’ve done so far and tweak it to work with SCOPE [a board-adopted curriculum program] to reach our goal of being a recognized school district. She has a leadership background, too, but she has a true passion for curriculum and instruction. That’s where she’s wanted to be for years. We probably waited a year too long to hire her.”

Madison said Callender would continue to work with campus administrators “and help ensure that we’re in compliance with what the state and federal government requires of us.”

Madison agreed with the process of choosing the new Smith principal by a unanimous vote.

“Especially at campus administration levels, what you’re looking for is leadership, somebody the teachers are going to respect and follow,” he said. “The sure-fire way is to allow these campuses to select their own administrator. When you appoint the administrator from outside, there’s a feeling out period, and that makes it difficult for both sides. So I’m completely in agreement with allowing the faculties to pick their own administrators.”

Either Helmcamp or Allen would have been a good choice, according to Madison.

“I know them both personally. They’re outstanding educators and people,” he said. “My only regret is that we didn’t have a campus to offer to each of them.”

In other business:

zx No announcement was made on a date for the 2009-10 budget workshop.

zx The board agreed to designate April 16 and May 28 as bad weather days, replacing Feb. 22 and May 28. The board tabled discussion of whether to allow some of its administrators to reside outside the school district.

zx The board hired Marcia Arvizu, bilingual kindergarten, Cooke; Julie Christian, science, Wheat; Courtney Carpenter, assistant principal, Cooke; Celeste Everts, English/language arts/coach, Wheat;, Charles McCarty, math/coach, Wheat; Jamie Moulton, first grade, Adams; Meredith Perry, third grade dual language, Cooke; Nikki Sims, physical therapist, CISD; Terry Wade, truancy officer, CISD; Colin Yielding, keyboarding and coach, Smith.

zx The board accepted resignations of Cheryl Bailey, curriculum secretary, CHS; Paula Brock, math lab aide, CHS; Adam Delka, choir and drama, CHS; Nicole Janecka, journalism, CHS; Penny Morrison, special ed director, CISD; Pam Powers, school psychology, CISD.