Friday, January 10, 2003

Board of Education swears in new members

New Fulton County Board of Education member Liz Hausmann (District 5) and re-elected members Katie Reeves (District 2), Zenda Bowie (District 6), and Julia Bernath (District 7) were sworn in at a special ceremony December 10 at Dunwoody Springs Elementary School. Judge Pinkie Toomer of the Fulton County Probate Court presided.

This is Hausmann's first term holding an elected public office, and previously she was chairwoman of the North Fulton Republican Party, a member of the Board of Elections and Registration, and was a president of the State Bridge Crossing Elementary School PTA.

Hausmann says that it is her love of children and a sense of family duty ­ her mother was a teacher ­ that led her to seek election to the Board of Education.

Hausmann's District 5 seat was created after the U.S. District Court of Atlanta redrew the school board voting districts last May.

The new districts are based on the 2000 U.S. Census and create seven districts with nearly equal populations of about 61,000 residents.

The new District 5, previously in south Fulton, was created by splitting the former District 2, and then moving District 5 to north Fulton County where much of District 2 was under-represented.

District 2 Board member Katie Reeves joined the Board in 1999 and was re-elected in November to her second term of office.

She is an active member of the Alpharetta community and has served on the Alpharetta Planning Commission for four years. She also has served on the Local School Advisory Committee at Lake Windward Elementary School and has served as the school's PTA legislative chair.

Zenda Bowie, Board member representing District 6, has served on the Fulton County Board of Education since 1990, making her the senior member of the Fulton County Board of Education.

She served as the board's president from 1993 through 1996, and has served as president of the Georgia School Boards Association. She is employed as the vice president of community affairs for the American Lung Association.

Julia Bernath first assumed the District 7 Board position in 2000, when she was appointed by the Board of Education to fill an unexpired term. In November 2000, she won election to the remaining two years of the term and was re-elected in 2002. Mrs. Bernath represents the Board on the Fulton Education Foundation and the Fulton School Employees Pension Board.

At the state level, she serves on the Teacher Quality Assessment Council of the P-16 Committee and the Governor's Education Review Study Committee. She also has served on the 1995 Sandy Springs Area Redistricting Task Force and is a former PTA president and Local School Advisory Committee chair.

All four Board members will serve until the term expires in 2006.

Fulton County Board members were sworn in to office by Fulton County Probate Judge Pinkie Toomer at a special ceremony December 10. From left, Judge Pinkie Toomer, Katie Reeves, Liz Hausmann, Zenda Bowie, and Julia Bernath.