In quick succession, Canadian ISD has seen its band directors, superintendent, head girls basketball coach, and theatre teacher announce their resignations, as they leave for positions elsewhere. But following a series of called meetings and executive sessions, school trustees have filled those positions, either by reassigning existing staff or recruiting new employees.

An April announcement by band directors Jennifer and Dean Webber that they had accepted jobs at Clyde CISD after seven years leading the music program here, was followed two months later by news that Kyle Lyncha veteran of 27 years in Canadian schools, seven of those as superintendent—was the sole finalist to head Seminole ISD. That announcement preceded one by Lady Wildcat head coach Kevin Richardson just two weeks later, that he had been hired to lead the girls basketball program at Wall High School.

Lynch and wife Dee Dee, who has served Region 16 as an educational diagnostician, said their final goodbyes this week and headed to Seminole, where they will be joined—we learned this month—by CHS theatre teacher Vonya Eudy, who announced her imminent departure in late June.

That initial volley of resignations by professional staff has precipitated a districtwide domino effect—more aptly described by one staff member as fruit-basket turnover.

James and Daisy Edwards were among the first hired. The couple has already moved to Canadian from Honey Grove, where he served as head band director, and she as his assistant.

On June 26, Athletic Director Chris Koetting announced that Farwell ISD girls basketball coach Aaron Marks had accepted the offer to succeed Richardson.

Having already announced on June 17 that they would post the superintendent’s position internally, school trustees announced at the conclusion of their July 8 board meeting that Dr. Lynn Pulliam—who has served for three years as CHS principal—was the sole finalist for the job.

That announcement set the clock ticking on the required 21-day waiting period the board must observe before formally offering Dr. Pulliam the contract.

In subsequent meetings, the board hired James Bryant to assume the position of CHS principal. Bryant returns to Canadian from a one-year stint at Gruver ISD. His successor as CHS assistant principal, Drew Daniel, will move to the office of CMS principal, taking over for Bruce Bryant, who stepped down in June to assume dual roles as CMS technology applications teacher and CMS/CHS robotics coach. BES fifth-grade teacher Megan Longoria will succeed Daniel as assistant principal of CHS.

Canadian High School alum Mistie Walser, who has been involved in community theatre and spearheaded summer children’s theatre productions here for several years now, was offered the contract to succeed Eudy as head of the CHS theatre program.

While Eudy’s tenure here has relatively short, it was no less notable. Hired to head the high school speech and theatre programs in 2016, Eudy quickly commandeered the stage with a series of impressive student productions. In 2017, her students’ one-act play performance of The Diviners advanced to regionals, winning several individual honors for cast and crew. The following year, The Angelina Project advanced to state and garnered a fistful of awards for cast and crew members, including the prestigious Samuel French Award for its leading actress, Emily Alexander.

In a letter to the community, published on page 3, the Lynches acknowledged what has been a whirlwind process, but expressed their confidence in the continued excellence of Canadian’s schools. “The expectation of greatness will continue to be the cornerstone of success,” they wrote. “We are excited to see Dr. Pulliam and his leadership team take our district to even greater heights.”

The new superintendent-in-waiting expressed his optimism, as well, in an interview with The Record. “Any time you lose proven people who have been very successful, it does worry me a little bit,” Dr. Pulliam said. “But I’m excited about the people we’ve hired for those spots. I think we’ll look back in the nottoo-distant future and say we hired some great people.”

“We’re performing great,” he added. “We’ve got great programs in place. Our staff is a veteran staff, for the most part, and very effective.”