Butts County school board names Will Rustin interim superintendent; adopts emergency resolution for June 23 budget notice

The Butts County school board opened its June 16 regular meeting with emotional remarks about the recent passing of Superintendent Brent Low and moved to keep his agenda in place while naming Will Rustin interim superintendent.

The meeting’s opening speaker, identified in the record as the chair, said the board had ‘‘to get folks hired’’ and asked for ‘‘grace’’ as it adjusted to Low’s death and prepared to continue the district’s work. The chair credited Low with recent progress and thanked staff and trustees for support during the transition.

At the chair’s request, Will Rustin addressed the board and presented an emergency resolution to permit notice of a June 23 budget hearing via the district website rather than through the legal organ (newspaper) because the board would not have sufficient time to publish a newspaper notice. "This emergency resolution will allow us…we will advertise for the meeting on the 23rd. We will advertise on our website. We will not have time to get into the newspaper," Rustin said.

Board members discussed the personnel report that accompanied the superintendent’s material and clarified that Rustin agreed to serve as interim superintendent; the board then moved to approve the superintendent’s report as presented. The motion passed with five yes votes recorded.

The emergency resolution is procedural: it authorizes alternate notice methods so the district can hold its budget hearing on the schedule required by staff. The board did not take additional policy action on personnel in this meeting; it approved the personnel packet as part of the superintendent report.

The board signaled it will continue work on the priorities Low had advanced and will return at the scheduled times for the June 23 and June 30 budget hearings.