Linda Apostalo won 1,195 votes to swamp Gary Jefferson’s 413 votes for the Place 6 school board seat formerly held by Sophia Williams, who did not seek re-election this year.

In Place 5, however, incumbent Glenn Peterson narrowly won re-election with 837 votes, nine ballots ahead of challenger Carol Armstrong, a Bastrop accountant.

A three-way race for the Place 7 seat was almost as close. Incumbent trustee Jim Mills won 653 votes, just over 38 percent of the total, to lead challengers Kelly Bender (503 votes) and Jim Clark (547 votes).

Two incumbents will be on the ballot, but one current board member is not seeking another term in office.

For the Place 5 seat, Trustee Glenn Peterson is standing for re-election. He is being challenged by Carol Armstrong.

In Place 6, veteran Board Member Sophia Willisams declined running for another term. Gary Jefferson and Linda Apostalo both want the post.

For the Place 7 seat, incumbent Jim Mills is facing two contenders, Kelly Bender and Jim Clark who has sought election twice in the past.

School will begin at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday for students in grades Pre-K to 4. Students in grades 5 to 12 will begin classes at 10;30 a.m., according to an announcement emailed from BISD offices at 9:20 p.m. Tuesday.

As rain, sleet and snow dusted the Bastrop area during the day Tuesday, emergency management officials worried about the possibility of icy bridges and roads if temperatures fell below freezing overnight.

The Bastrop City Council called off its 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday because of weather conditions.

Former school trustee Karen Halladay has signed up to challenge incumbent Glenn Peterson who is seeking re-election to the Place 5 seat.

In Place 6 Linda Apostalo will be on the May ballot.

Incumbent trustee Jim Mills is seeking re-election to Place 7.

A secret vote would violate the state’s Open Meetings Act. The Bastrop Advertiser reported the Dec. 7 vote came “during a closed-door session of the BISD Board of Trustees.” Eaton said official minutes of the meeting will reflect the vote was taken during a part of the meeting open to the public.

The Monday vote did name Steve Murray as the lone finalist to succeed Roderick Emanuel as superintendent of the 8,000-student Bastrop school district. Emanuel has been acting superintendent since announcing his resignation as superintendent last summer.

Six candidates were interviewed for the vacant post beginning Nov. 18, said Eaton. The six were culled from more than 50 hopefuls who applied for the position, he said.

By law the school board must wait 21 days from naming a lone finalist before making a formal job offer. Eaton said trustees expect to take the next step on Jan. 4 and negotiate an employment contract with Murray so he can take the reins of the school district by Feb. 1.

Murray is currently superintendent of the Little Elm school district in the Dallas area and was formerly superintendent in LaVernia. Before that he was a deputy superintendent in Del Valle, among other public education jobs. He is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University and what is now Texas State University-San Marcos.

Subsequently the school board hired an executive search firm to screen candidates for the position. The first round of interviews was set for Wednesday at the Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative headquarters on Texas 21 east of Bastrop.

The names of applicants for the opening and those selected for interviews have not been made public.

The viral strain was confirmed in two athletes this afternoon after four team members and a coach reported flu-like symptoms over the past week, following a team trip to a Fort Worth tournament. According to Bastrop County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Fisher, all nine team members and their two coaches, along with their families and other “close contacts,” are being treated as if they have either a seasonal flu strain or the so-called swine flu which spread from Mexico to the US and around the world earlier this year. The medical treatment is the same in either case.

Fisher said he spent much of the day Friday in meetings with Bastrop school officials, Bastrop County Health Officer Dr. Desmar Walkes, state health service officials and other officials to map out systems to monitor and respond to local developments, which should become apparent within about 48 hours, he said Friday evening.

With classes set to begin Monday in Bastrop schools, officials are urging students with flu-like symptoms to stay home, cover their mouths when they cough and to wash their hands frequently.

Those most affected by the H1N1 flu outbreak this year have been children between the ages of eight and 18. Some reports have suggested that those of Hispanic or African descent have also been disproportionately affected.

Fisher said he has been impressed with the response of Bastrop school officials to the reported outbreak. “They’ve done a good job of addressing it,” he said.

The pay pact and other details of Emanuel’s new assignment are spelled out in a new employment agreement obtained by Bastrop-News.com under the Texas Public Information Act. The deal was signed July 7 by school board president John Eaton and two other trustees.

The contract says Emanuel will become director of employee relations after his stint as acting superintendent ends. The employee relations director will report to Barry Edwards, the assistant superintendent for personnel. But Emanuel cannot be assigned to any other post–or his pay changed–without his consent before the new contract expires Sept. 30, 2012, the document says.

Emanuel will also retain top health insurance benefits, travel reimbursement, some professional and civic organization costs, vacation and holiday pay as well as a BISD cell phone.

With prior school board approval, Emanuel will also be allowed to pursue outside consulting, writing and speaking engagements.

When announcing his resignation as superintendent, Emanuel said he wants to spend more time with his family and pursue “other personal interests.”

In an interview with The Bastrop Advertiser last week, Eaton said Emanuel had been considering a new role with the district for some weeks before the announcement, but the board president rejected any suggestion that Emanuel had been pressured to step aside. Eaton also said the school district’s academic performance was not an issue when trustees acted on July 6.
By Texas Education Agency standards, both Bastrop High School and Bastrop Middle School are rated academically unacceptable.

During his seven-year tenure as school superintendent, Emanuel helped win voter approval for a major renovation of the Bastrop High School campus as well as bond money to construct a new high school at Cedar Creek, a new athletic stadium near Cedar Creek and an auditorium and performing arts facility in Bastrop.