By Robert Medley
Managing Editor
An incumbent school board member will face the Piedmont Schools former athletic director when voters will decide a Piedmont School Board seat in the Tuesday, April 6 election.
Zach Myatt, incumbent, is running against Layne Jones for the district one seat.
Jones, a Piedmont resident, left the athletic director’s job in June after his contract expired at the end of that month.
During Jones tenure, a new basketball arena that was approved by voters in February.
Voters approved a $37.5 million bond issue by 61.36% of the votes to 38.64%.
Jones said he had decided to focus on a bottled water and iced tea business in Oklahoma City.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 has been the foremost issue for students, staff and families this year, said Myatt.
“The most important thing and most pressing issue affecting every student every day and every site is the COVID-19 and the protocols. We just got the students back into school full-time, this is the second week.
All the teachers who have wanted to be vaccinated have received two doses in the district.
Myatt helped vaccinate teachers himself at the clinics at school sites. The students have returned to school five days a week. Masks are still required. But the mask policy could be reviewed in April at a school board meeting.
“If the numbers ease down the next thing is to ease the mask policy,” Myatt said. District officials have reported fewer cases since the students returned five days a week. The seventh through 12th graders spent most of this school year attending two or three days a week.
“Our numbers of cases have gone down for sure,” Myatt said. “I don’t know if it is because of the increased vaccinations or fewer cases in the state.”
The clinics the district offered were three weeks apart at district school sites.
Myatt, a clinical pharmacist at INTEGRIS Medical Center, volunteered to help vaccinate.
Myatt said he will meet with people who have questions at a meet and greet event at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 1 at the Piedmont Community Park, 130 Goodner Simpson Blvd.
