RISD board honors longtime retiring trustee Duran
May 20—Rockwall ISD trustees recognized longtime school board member Linda Mitchell Duran at last Wednesday's special meeting while also swearing in three members.
Duran retired after serving the district as a trustee for 12 years — serving four terms beginning in May 2012 through May 2024. During her tenure as a trustee, Duran was board president and vice president.
She was part of a team that managed the district's commitment to student academic achievement, the fast enrollment growth, completing the 2015 bond program, the successful passage of the 2021 bond and the construction of 11 new facilities while helping achieve the lowest tax rate in Rockwall ISD history, according to RISD officials.
As a mark of her desire to be the very best for her community and school district, she earned master trustee status in 2017 — a program that required her to commit her time to various sessions held around the state.
Duran's accomplishments as a trustee include:
— Leading during a time of higher student enrollment growth from 14,359 students in 2012 to 18,856 in 2024;
— Successful bond programs building 11 campuses, including the first college and career academy in the district serving approximately 3,000 students, two ninth-grade campuses, a new middle school, four elementary schools, three replacement elementary schools and additions to current middle schools for sixth-graders moving up;
— Lowered the tax rate from $1.47 in 2011 to $1.01 in 2022;
— Three-time state accountability district "A" rating;
— Approximately 60% of all fifth- and sixth-grade students in the district participate in advanced academic math pathways;
— Top Five Honor Board in Texas for governance, fiscal responsibility and academic/extracurricular achievement out of more than 1,200 school districts;
— One of the highest graduation rates in the region at 99%; and
— Participated in 44 graduations and shook hands with approximately 12,600 graduating seniors prepared for higher education, military, technical school and workforce opportunities.
In addition to honoring Duran, three trustees — Frank Conselman, Dr. Sherry Packer and Grant DuBois — were sworn in following their elections on May 4. Packer was re-elected to serve as trustee for Place 1, Conselman was likewise re-elected to Place 2 and DuBois was elected to step into the Place 3 position, succeeding Duran.
Following their swearing in, trustees voted for the following board officers: Amy Hilton, president; Conselman, vice president; and Sherry Packer, secretary.
