NEWS RELEASES 2002-03

GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONFIRMS SPEED'S APPOINTMENT TO STATE BOARD

North Carolina General Assembly members this afternoon confirmed the appointment of Robert Thomas Speed to the N.C. State Board of Education. Speed, who was appointed to the Board by Gov. Mike Easley on May 15, 2003, fills the vacancy left by out-going Board member Ronald Deal.

Speed will represent the state's Seventh Educational District, which includes the following counties: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Davie, Iredell, Rowan, Surry, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yadkin.

At Thursday morning's Board meeting, Justice Sara Parker will officially swear in Speed and Kathy A. Taft and John A. Tate III, who were both reappointed to the Board in May and February respectively.

Speed, an attorney from Boone, is actively involved in Appalachian State University's athletic booster's club, and a member of the North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police and the Winston-Salem Scottish Rite Bodies. Speed received his bachelor's degree in Business Administration and his master's degree in Economics and Business from Appalachian State University. He received his jurist doctorate from Campbell University's School of Law.

The State Board of Education is the chief education policy-making body in North Carolina and consists of the Lieutenant Governor, the State Treasurer and 11 members appointed by the Governor to serve eight-year terms. The Board meets monthly, usually on the first Wednesday and Thursday in Raleigh. For more information, please go to the following North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Web site, http://www.ncpublicschools.org/state_board