After a six-month-long search, Abilene ISD found the person they want to lead as Superintendent. The Abilene ISD Board of Trustees announced during a special meeting Tuesday evening that David Young is the lone finalist for the job.
Young grew up in Abilene and graduated from Cooper High School in 1990. He’s been superintendent of the Pampa Independent School District since 2012, before moving to Pampa he served as Midway ISD Assistant Superintendent. Earlier in his career he worked as a principal and a teacher. During the special meeting Tuesday, Young addressed a cheerful crowd at the AISD office.
“I look around this room, I see former teachers, I see friends that I went to high school with, I see a former boss of mine and just all of the different people that made my Abilene experience what it is and that is something that made me truly desire to come back,” Young said.
Young moved to Abilene when he was in the fourth grade. His father was a tanker pilot stationed at Dyess Air Force Base. Young is a 1990 graduate of Cooper High School, his wife, Amanda, graduated from Cooper two years after him. Their youngest children, Madison and Jackson will attend AISD schools while their oldest son will attend Hardin-Simmons University.
AISD had a difficult year after the previous superintendent, Heath Burns, resigned in February following allegations of sex scandals in the district. Young said his first order of business will be getting to know members of the leadership team, followed by principals.
“I feel like the order of the day especially initially is just to be engaged with our district and our community at large be visible, be a good listener, take feedback about how things are going,” Young said. “I’d really rather not focus on what has happened but I choose to focus on what can happened.”
The state requires a school district to wait 21 days after a finalist is named before hiring the candidate. That means Young will be starting work a few days before school starts in Abilene.
