After swearing in trustee Chris Poteet to the at-large Place 7 seat and trustee Megan Timme to the single-member District 1 seat—both of whom ran unopposed—to new three-year terms, the board named a new president, vice president and secretary at a June 6 meeting.
What happened?
For the 2024-25 school year, Poteet will serve as the board president, taking over from trustee Regina Harris, who has held the position since 2021.
At-large Place 6 trustee Eric Eager will serve as the vice president, while single-member District 5 trustee Rachel McGowan will take over the board secretary role.
At the meeting, Harris was named a Texas Association of School Boards delegate with single-member District 2 trustee Vanessa Pacheco serving as her alternate.
The background
Poteet was first elected to the board in 2021. Outside of RISD, he serves as a civil engineer with Freese and Nichols.
Eager, the CEO and co-founder of local tech firm 4impactdata, was also first elected to the RISD board in 2020.
A Lake Highlands High School alum, McGowan has served on the RISD board since 2022.
What else?
Board members in the school district serve three-year staggered terms and are not subject to term limits. Five of the seven seats on the board are single-member spots chosen by registered voters of specific districts, while the remaining two seats are elected at large by all voters. This voting system is the result of a lawsuit settled in early 2019 that accused the board of Voting Rights Act violations.
