By Jacob Stock
Yorktown News-View
With a new school year on the brink, the news of Yorktown ISD superintendent Katherine Kuenstler’s resignation towards the end of last Monday’s regular monthly school board meeting was a tough pill to swallow for the Board of Trustees. Kuenstler has been at the helm of Yorktown ISD for the past three years and five months.
“It is with our Board’s regret that Mrs. Kuenstler has offered her resignation,” said Board president Benjamin Hahn. “She will be moving on to another district with her career. We as the Yorktown ISD Board of Trustees wish her the best and appreciate her efforts at Yorktown ISD. As a board, we will continue to be excited, and are looking forward to our future with our faculty and students.”
The news came after a closed session that lasted over an hour. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. and adjourned at 10:11 p.m.
To start the meeting public comments were made first with Mark Collins, senior pastor at First Baptist Church Yorktown, speaking on school safety measures. Collins, before moving to Yorktown, lived in Sutherland Springs and was a witness to the horrific church shooting that killed 26 people, and wounded 22 others. In Collins dialogue, he speaks to the board about what he has learned from traveling the country and visiting churches to discuss security. He encouraged the board to aggressively look at ways to protect all Yorktown ISD students.
“I would just encourage that maybe we put together an interdiction team that trains regularly and trains in this facility so that if something does happen. Of course, we are just a little school and a little town. So was First Baptist of Sutherland Springs, I didn’t think that could ever happen,” said Collins. “I am offering my time, I am offering my life to protect our kiddos and I know I get a lot of amens from others folks, and some of our coaches and teachers that would be willing to do that.”
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