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HISD trustees Anna Eastman and Mike Lunceford, who both were elected to the HISD Board of Trustees in 2009 and are now retiring, were thanked on Thursday for their service during a reception at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center.
Superintendent Richard Carranza thanked Eastman and Lunceford for their eight years of service, calling them “good public stewards of public tax dollars. … Your touch is everywhere in our district, and your legacy will live on for years.” He presented them with crystal apples as a small token of the district’s appreciation.
HISD Board First Vice President Diana Davila welcomed board members past and present before addressing Eastman and Lunceford. “Your legacy will be the passing of the bond that is responsible for so many new campuses being built around the district.”
Eastman spoke first, thanking the community members and school leaders in the audience. “I see people here who had faith in me when I decided to run for this position,” she said. “Little did I know how much I would have to learn in order to serve our students.”
Lunceford explained how he came to run for the board, starting out as the parent of a kindergarten student at Horn Elementary School. He thanked the leaders from his schools for attending. “I like to focus on all the positive things that have come out of the district,” he said. “When you focus on the kids first, everything works,” he said.
Eastman (District I) and Lunceford (District V) will be succeeded by Elizabeth Santos and Sergio Lira, respectively. Both prevailed in the run-off elections on Dec. 9 and will be sworn in at the 2018 Board of Education meeting at 5 p.m. on Jan. 18. For more information on Santos and Lira, see this story.
Eastman has been a passionate advocate for the arts, public health, and social justice. As an HISD parent since 2002, she led the Travis Elementary School Parent Teacher Association (PTA) Ad Hoc Transition Committee in 2003, which facilitated the move of students to temporary buildings while the school was closed for major renovations.
From 2005 to 2007 she served as PTA president at Travis. Eastman and her husband, Brad, also cofounded the 11½ Street Foundation, which has recognized outstanding veteran teachers with monetary awards. Today, the foundation provides college scholarships to at-risk children who have graduated from HISD’s Heights (formerly Reagan) and Northside (formerly Davis) high schools. As a trustee, Eastman has consistently been involved in board leadership, and has served as president, second vice president, secretary, and assistant secretary.
Lunceford is a longtime volunteer with HISD, serving on the HISD Bond Oversight Committee, the HISD District V Leadership Team, and HISD Parent Visionaries. He also served on the school building committees for Longfellow Elementary, Pin Oak Middle, and Pershing Middle, and he chaired the Master Plan Building Committee for Horn Elementary School.
Lunceford’s two children attended Horn Elementary and Pershing Middle schools and are graduates of Bellaire High School. Lunceford served as the Horn Elementary Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) treasurer and auction co-chair. A native Texan, Lunceford is a product of HISD schools himself, having attended McNamara and Elrod elementary schools, Fondren Middle School, and Westbury High School.