MIDLAND, Texas — The Midland ISD School Board voted Wednesday to officially hire Dr. Stephanie Howard as the district's new superintendent.
Howard was selected as the lone finalist on Dec. 7. Trustees needed to wait the required 21 days before officially hiring her.
On December 28, Dr. Howard signed the contract in front of the entire board during a brief special meeting.
Her start date will be Jan 3, 2023, just in time for the new semester.
She already has plans on what she'll be doing on her first day.
“So on January 3rd I’ll start on campuses... Visits to the campuses. Just go around and meet people. Say hi to people that I know and have worked with before. But mainly just help everyone understand that it's business as usual. We have kids that are going to show up on the 4th and I want them to just take a deep breath and relax and know that everything's going to be good and let's maintain the focus on our students,” Dr. Howard said.
Most recently Howard served as superintendent for Crane ISD.
Going forward she says her priorities are safety, establishing relationships with students, parents and staff and providing stability for the district.
“This is just an opportunity for me to work with our team, provide some stability for the district. The district’s been through a lot of leadership changes over the last five or six years. So just an opportunity for us to pull together, work together, and know that there’s going to be some consistency and some stability.” she continued.
She also spoke on establishing a Superintendent Advisory Council so that she can hear first hand from MISD students on a regular basis.
To see the full interview with Dr. Howard, watch below.