Hiring basketball coaches wasn’t the only personnel move on the agenda Wednesday for the Dover Board of Education.

Trilla Ramer was reassigned as the district’s federal programs director, curriculum director and response to intervention (RTI) director beginning in the 2023-24 school year.

It’s a move Ramer welcomes. “I will be able to provide more support to teachers and students,” Ramer said. “I am so grateful to Superintendent Jay Wood and the Dover school board for allowing me to take on this new position.”

Ramer’s reassignment was ap- proved by board members during a special meeting on Wednesday night.

Among several other duties since she came back to her alma mater in 2015, Ramer has been the elementary principal for the entirety of her tenure.

Her move paved the way for Jared Reese to be named the new elementary principal (see related story). When word broke Wednesday of the impending hire of Reese, there was some concern in the community about Ramer’s role.

“I’m still a Longhorn!” she wrote on social media after the moves were official.

Superintendent Jay Wood said Ramer’s abilities will serve the district in her new role.

“We are really targeting some of the students’ areas of weakness and she will coordinate and plan that on a daily basis,” Wood said. “By no means was this a demotion. We are moving her to some areas where we need to improve on and manage. This has been a job opportunity that she has always wanted to do.” And, he said, one he was happy to give her. “You won’t find anyone who is more passionate and works any harder than Trilla. She has been valuable to me on my transition to Dover,” Wood said. “In addition to all her other qualities, she is very good with all of the federal and state programs and paperwork that goes with that.” Ramer was also the high school assistant principal from 2015-18 under then-Superintendent Shannon Grimes.

She has also served as the School Improvement Grant (SIG) coordinator and dealt with federal programs when Max Thomas was superintendent.

Her new roles have her excited.

“Curriculum and educational technology have always been something I’ve been passionate about,” she said. “I just love the students and staff at Dover and I’m blessed to work at my alma mater.”

Lindsay Reese to join Dover staff

Jared Reese also wasn’t the only Reese hired by the board.

His wife, Lindsay Reese, was approved as the reading interventionist for the upper grades.

She’s currently the seventh grade reading teacher at Kingfisher Junior High and is also the junior high cheer coach.

“One of our targeted areas we want to focus on is reading and writing,” Wood said. “With all of our state testing mostly being determined by how well a student can read and comprehend, we want to make sure we are giving our students the best opportunity to succeed. Reese, he said, meets those qualifi cations. She will be teaching a new required reading and writing class with seventh and eighth grade students and will also be responsible for remediation for those students who may be behind or lacking some essential skills in that area for students in grades 5-12.

“What she brings to our staff is impeccable and our students will greatly benefi t from her being over here,” Wood said, noting Laura Pitts does much of the same for students in the school’s lower elementary.

“We feel like if we can target some of those areas early the success of our students will only increase,” Wood said.

Like her husband, Lindsay Reese said she embraces the opportunity of a new challenge.

“We appreciate the support we have received from so many wonderful people in Kingfisher,” she said. “And we look forward to working with the Dover school and community. We feel like this new opportunity is what is best for our family.”