The Brookhaven School District Board of Trustees shuffled itsofficers Tuesday night in a rearrangement designed to make room fornew board member Willie “Doc” Harrison.

Harrison’s addition to the board brings it back up to fullstrength with five members. He was appointed by the BrookhavenBoard of Aldermen to fill the void left by the passing of boardpresident Carl Holloway, who died in his home on Nov. 18.

Harrison is no stranger to public service.

A former assistant principal at Brookhaven High School, he alsoserves as a bailiff for the Lincoln County court system. Now, hesays he is ready to turn his attention to the city’s students.

“I want to make strong decisions for the betterment of thedistrict and the district’s children,” he said. “I was appointed asan individual, but we all come together as a team. I’m thankful forthe board of aldermen’s appointment, and I will do everything in mypower to assure them their appointment was not adisappointment.”

Harrison said he knows that tough issues will arise during hisservice on the board, but he is ready to “roll up [his] sleeves”and deal with them. So far, Harrison’s only real worry aboutserving on the board is reaching the bar set by hispredecessor.

“I’m taking Mr. Holloway’s place and those are some big shoes tofill,” he said. “I know I’ll never be able to fill those shoes, butI just want to get on and do the best job I can do. I hope that Iwill be able to do the job as well as he has.”

Superintendent Lea Barrett has no worries about Harrison’sappointment. She praised his experience, character and statuswithin the community.

“He is well respected throughout the community, and in mypersonal dealings with him, I’ve known him to be a very fair andeven-tempered man who carefully considers a question before takinga stand,” she said. “I think that kind of thoughtful and educatedperson is a wonderful addition to this board.”

Barrett said Harrison is well equipped to take on the duties ofbeing a board member, and needs only to attend and complete themandatory training for first-time members offered through theMississippi School Board Association.

Harrison’s five-year appointment brings with it new titles forthe board. Stan Patrick is now the chairman, Dan Brown, Jr.,becomes the vice chairman and Carl Aycock will serve as the board’ssecretary. Harrison and Karen Braden are members.

And all five members now preside over a district recognized byMississippi State University as “value added.”

Barrett said MSU’s Program of Research and Evaluation for PublicSchools named the Brookhaven district “value added” after theSubject Area Testing Program scores from the 2007-08 school yearexceeded the program’s score projections, which are based on alarge volume of state school statistics.

“It’s just recognition of the work the principals and teachershave put in,” Barrett said. “One of the district’s goals has beento improve test scores, and this just shows that some of the extraprograms and classroom technology we’ve added is beginning to payoff. The teachers and principals have been successful, and we’rebeginning to see some very strong results.”