Thomas Hunter Middle School’s administration is now set for the coming school year.

At its May meeting, the Mathews County School Board approved the appointment of assistant principal Laurel Byrd to replace retiring principal Mike Comer. This week, the board made its selection to replace Byrd.

Amy Hauser, who is media specialist for Mathews High School and THMS, was named assistant principal for the 2013-2014 school year during Tuesday’s school board meeting, which was held in the MHS library.

Hauser has worked for a dozen years in Mathews County Public Schools, the last three as media specialist at MHS and THMS. She began with Mathews working as the media specialist at Lee-Jackson Elementary School, before becoming the division’s gifted education coordinator.

She also took a leave of absence from Mathews in order to pursue her EdM in human development and psychology from Harvard University. She also received her EdS degree with a doctorate in leadership, foundations and social policy from the Curry School of Graduate Education at the University of Virginia, a master’s in library science from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and a bachelor’s degree from Randolph College.

Working in the classroom has been Hauser’s lifelong career goal, and she said she has the utmost regard for her colleagues here in Mathews. “The teachers here … are the most awesome people I could ever be working with,” she said.

Superintendent of Schools David J. Holleran said that LaDonna Crain, the media specialist at Lee-Jackson, will be taking over for Hauser to oversee the libraries at MHS and THMS. The board appointed Lisa Anne Whaley to be the new elementary school media specialist.

In other personnel actions Tuesday night, the board accepted the resignations of MHS guidance counselor Renee Johnson and Lee-Jackson music teacher Theresa Larsen. The following appointments were also made: Katelyn Dodge as head guidance counselor at MHS; Shannon Duff as MHS guidance counselor; David Lowe as part-time automotive teacher at MHS; Keri Polson as middle school special education teacher, and Sarah Foster as kindergarten teacher.

Internet connectivity

Also during Tuesday’s meeting, technology coordinator Bill Vrooman discussed the results of the division’s 2013 Internet Connectivity Survey. Third, fifth, eighth and 10th graders were surveyed on their access to internet outside of school hours. The survey showed that roughly 75-80 percent of students currently has access to high-speed internet in their homes. The remaining 20-25 percent has either slow dial-up service or nothing at all, he said.

The issue, Vrooman said, isn’t so much one of access (with a growing number of vendors offering service in Mathews), but one of economics, with families unable to afford the monthly fees. He suggested that some system of grants and subsidies be examined to ensure that students have access to high-speed internet so they are able to do their homework properly.

Holleran said he will present the findings of this survey to the Mathews County Board of Supervisors, adding that perhaps they could find some grant funding to help these families.