Bates fills GISD board of trustees position

The Graham ISD school board approved Brandon Bates to fill the board of trustees position held by ZT Burkett during their Wednesday meeting.

Last month, Burkett sent a notice to GISD Superintendent Sonny Cruse that he would be moving to a home outside the GISD boundary. This made Burkett ineligible to serve on the GISD school board.

Burkett joined the GISD board in 2015, after winning the May 2015 election for the Place 2 position held by outgoing chairman Win Graham.

The last change in the board of trustees was on Jan. 16, when Dan De La Cruz was sworn in to fill the Place 6 position held by Jay Tillotson. Cruse said when De La Cruz was being considered, Bates was also a consideration for the board.

“When they appointed Dan De La Cruz, he was also talked about and discussed within the board at that particular time, and of course after ZT resigned, they looked back at their list of those people that they had reached out to that had expressed interest in serving and he was on the list,” Cruse said. “The board reached out to him to confirm that he was still interested in board service, so they made that decision.”

Cruse said Bates will be sworn in during the board’s regular October meeting, or at a special called meeting if one is called before the October meeting.