By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

PELHAM—The May 12 Pelham Board of Education annual meeting saw the election of a board president and vice president, the approval of a new administrative staff member and the start to a construction plan for the Pelham City School System.

According to state laws, a Board of Education must hold a meeting each May to elect a board president and vice president, Pelham City Schools Interim Superintendent Dr. Tim Alford said. The BOE nominated current President Rick Rhoades and Vice President Paul Howell for reappointment. Both were re-elected with a unanimous vote.

“I appreciate the opportunity to serve again in this capacity,” Rhoades said. “We will continue to do our very best to ensure a very special experience for the children of our city and this city as a whole.”

The BOE also approved Pelham City Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Coefield’s recommendation to hire Dr. Jason Yohn as the Director of Operations for the Pelham City School System.

Yohn is currently the Principal of Smiths Station High School in Lee County. A graduate of Auburn University and Troy University, Yohn has extensive experience as an educational administrator, including a three-year tenure as the principal of Dadeville High School in Tallapoosa County before taking assuming the position of principal at Smiths Station HS in May of 2008.

Yohn is the first of what Coefield said will be a “flood of recommendations.” Coefield said he has been conducting interviews with many qualified candidates, and hopes to have more recommendations to bring before the board at the next BOE meeting.

Finally, the Board of Education voted to “enter into a Master Services Agreement” with HOAR Program Management.

“We have to get busy this summer,” Coefield said, noting the work that needs to be done to clean and ready the school for the start of the new school year.

Although still working towards “clarification of a plan,” Coefield said he expects to be in the construction phase “in about a year.”

The Board of Education is scheduled to meet again on May 27 at 4 p.m.