Members of the Carter County Board of Education selected their leaders for the upcoming year during the group’s meeting on Tuesday evening.

During the business portion of the meeting, members were asked to make nominations to serve as chairman of the Board for the upcoming year. Board member Craig Davis nominated Rusty Barnett for the position of chairman. Board member Kelly Crain nominated Davis to serve as chairman.

When the members voted, Barnett was selected to once again serve as the Board Chairman by a margin of 5-2. Board members LaDonna Stout Boone, Tony Garland, Jerry Stout, Davis, and Barnett all cast their votes for Barnett. Crain and Board member Steve Hyder voted for Davis. Board member Dave Buck was not in attendance at the meeting on Tuesday.

This marks Barnett’s fourth consecutive term that Barnett has been selected by the Board to serve as their Chairman.

“I want to thank everyone for their confidence and support in voting me in for the fourth term as chairman,” Barnett said. “Even though I’ve got a lot on my plate, I’m going to continue to give 100 percent to the Board as always.”

“I am honored to be the chairman of the Carter County School Board,” Barnett continued. “We’ve come a long way, but we still have work to do.”

The Board has always had a good working relationship with each other, Barnett said, adding he looks forward to continuing to work with his fellow Board members to serve the schools and children in the community.

When the Board considered appointments for the vice chairman position, Davis was unanimously voted to once again serve in that role.

In other business, school system officials announced to the Board the system has been awarded a grant to launch a new literacy initiative that would take books and activities into the communities for pre-school age children.

“We’re pretty excited about this,” said Director of Schools Dr. Kevin Ward.

The grant is for $6,000 and was awarded by the Governor’s Books From Birth Foundation for the Read To Be Ready program. Ward said the school system will be outfitting a bus that will visit different communities throughout the county on a schedule to provide access to books and reading activities to young children to help them get a jump start on reading before they start kindergarten.