(Seguin) — The Seguin ISD has welcomed the newest member to its board of trustees. Former educator Grace Mueller was appointed to the District 3 position during Monday night’s board meeting. Mueller replaces longtime trustee and former Board President Cinde Thomas-Jimenez who resigned this past summer after moving out of state. Mueller was one of three individuals who submitted their application for consideration.
Current Board President Alejandro Guerra says Mueller fills the seat bringing years of experience and knowledge to the district.
“Grace Mueller is retired from San Marcos ISD where she spent 30 years, 19 years as a special ed teacher, 11 years as an 8th ELA teacher. She served as a Region 13 trainer for other districts. She is also a member of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association and served as president of the local chapter and legislative chair for the state and president of the state association. She serves on the Retired Advisory Committee with TRS. She’s been there for eight years, and she is very familiar with local budgets as they pertain to teachers and curriculum,” said Guerra.
Mueller, who was encouraged by Thomas-Jimenez to apply for the position, says she is excited about her appointment and looks forward to beginning her new role serving the families of Seguin.
“I’m just very honored that they were considering me and my background for this position. I think I bring a different outlook and perspective to the board because I have past years of being a teacher. So, I am a proponent and an advocate for teachers and students to the highest degree, so I am glad to be able to be on the board and keep that up. I should be very easy to contact because I’m retired so I’m pretty easy to get a hold of but I want to probably get a little bit more information about the school and the kids and the parents and attend a whole lot more things than I have in the past so I think that’s one of the things I’m going to start with is get familiar with the school itself,” said Mueller.
Mueller’s appointment, however, was not unanimous. Casting the lone dissenting vote was Trustee Josh Bright. Bright explains his decision.
“I was voting my heart today. Although I know Grace has a fantastic resume and she has been working in the education business for a long time and has a wealth of knowledge and I look forward to working with her and having her alongside us building a new Team of 8 as we move forward because now that we have 7 and obviously we will be looking for the eighth person going out for the (position) of superintendent — however, that turns out to be — I was looking for something different. So, that is why I voted the way I did today,” said Bright.
Following the appointment by the board, Mueller was administered the oath of office and immediately took her seat on the school board. The other candidates who applied for consideration were Cheryl Schmidt and Lizeth Hernandez.