Skidmore-Tynan school leader leaving district

SKIDMORE – The Skidmore-Tynan school board will now have to begin searching for a new superintendent.

Dr. Randy Hoyer announced Monday during the board meeting that he is leaving the district and headed to Orange Grove at the end of the month.

“I love Skidmore-Tynan,” he said this week.

“I appreciate the school board’s support. I will treasure my time here in Skidmore-Tynan.”

Hoyer’s last day with the district is May 31, but he won’t miss graduation on June 2.

“I will be there,” he said.

The board on Monday appointed Dr. Dustin Barton as acting superintendent.

“I supported this move because he is a very good man and a good educator,” Hoyer said. “He came to us from Blanco ISD where he was a long-time high school principal and director of curriculum.”

The school board is expected to discuss the hiring process for the next superintendent at its meeting in June.

“They did not act on a timetable,” Hoyer said. “We have not formally established the search process.”

Hoyer said that he will miss the district and is proud of the work he has done there.

“We put a roof on the high school,” he said.

This $450,000 project was a necessity as the leaking roof was not repairable.

“It was time,” Hoyer said. “We had to make a decision.

“We want to create safe and efficient classrooms for our kids.”

That isn’t the only renovation done under the leadership of Hoyer.

Three years ago, Hoyer found a way to give the high school a new media center and library.

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The building, named after the late Leroy Hoff, was once the junior high library.

By using in-house labor, the cost to renovate much of the inside of this building came in at about $20,000.

This financial frugality also helped him build the district’s reserve balance.

Starting with a reserve of only $309,000 when he came here several years ago, that has increased to about half of what is needed.

“We are hoping to have $1 million in reserve after our next financial audit,” he said. They need $2 million.

Future businesses in the area also could help this district financially.

An agreement with a wind farm out there is still in the works. And the new Exxon plant could also bring additional businesses within the district’s borders.

“We are looking for great things,” Hoyer said.

And while all of this is important, Hoyer knows that what matters most is the children and their education.

“We have done some other renovations that have created a better, stronger learning environment for kids,” he said. “We have had lots of academic success.”

The district consistently exceeded the state average in most categories on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test this past year.

The junior high also was selected by Educational Results Partnership and the Institute for Productivity in Education as one of 727 public schools in Texas to receive the title of 2016 Honor Roll school.

“We have put kids first from day one,” he said.

Hoyer’s new district in Orange Grove contains twice the number of kids and staff.

“I am looking forward to a new challenge,” Hoyer said.

A Yankee by birth, Hoyer said that he has spent the past 33 years in South Texas, and the students and community of Skidmore-Tynan are part of the reason.

Jason Collins is the editor at the Bee-Picayune and can be reached at 343-5221, or at editor@mySouTex.com.

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