Coppell Chronicle Vol. 5, No. 7
Hunt Will Soon Retire From Coppell ISD • District Pokes Paxton in Lawsuit Response • Candidates Share Their Hopes and Dreams • Let’s Check Those Campaigns’ Finances
Hunt Will Soon Retire From Coppell ISD
During a recent discussion about the importance of attendance, Coppell ISD Superintendent Brad Hunt made his bosses laugh by saying this:
“If you’re just like, ‘Uh, I’m just not feeling it today; I don’t want to go to school,’ well, I don’t want to go to work … ever! But I do!”
As it turns out, that comment during the Board of Trustees’ Feb. 24 meeting was a bit of foreshadowing. On Thursday afternoon, Hunt let everyone know that he will stop going to work at the Vonita White Administration Building when this semester ends.
“When I joined Coppell ISD, I was immediately struck by the extraordinary students, dedicated staff, and supportive community,” Hunt said in his retirement announcement. “I thought CISD was a utopia — and I still feel that way today. Dreams really do come true.”
Hunt was hired to teach at Coppell High School in 1990. Except for a brief stint in Southlake’s Carroll ISD, he has spent his entire career in Coppell ISD, where his other titles have included Coppell Middle School West Assistant Principal, Director of Human Resources, Coppell High School Principal, and Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services. He assumed the district’s top job in 2017, which makes him the senior superintendent in Dallas County.
Besides a distinguished career, Coppell ISD has given Hunt a family. He met his wife, Janay Hunt, when she taught at Town Center Elementary School. Their daughter graduated from Coppell High two years ago, and their son is on track to do the same two years from now.
The retirement announcement didn’t specify why Hunt is walking away from a contract that runs through December of 2027, but it’s safe to assume that fatigue is a factor. A superintendent’s job is demanding under ideal circumstances. For the past several years, Hunt has also dealt with a pandemic, stagnant state funding, dwindling enrollment, a tax measure rejected by most district voters, a controversial decision to close a campus (with more closure debates on the horizon), and some doofus transcribing all of his public comments and emailing the juiciest bits to the community. On top of all that, he’s among the defendants in a lawsuit that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed last month. (Keep reading for more on that.)
Despite those troubles, Coppell ISD boasts a 99 percent graduation rate and a score of 97 percent in the Texas Education Agency’s most recent accountability ratings. Coppell High’s Class of 2024 had more National Merit semifinalists than any school in Texas, and this year’s senior class finished second in that regard. A little more than a year ago, Hunt received the Cliff Long Leadership Award from the Coppell Chamber of Commerce, which led to this tribute video:
When the news of Hunt’s retirement was shared in local Facebook groups on Thursday, most of the commenters had mixed feelings — happy for him but sad for the district. That was also the predominant sentiment in interviews recorded by student journalists from The Sidekick.
“He leaves an enduring legacy of steady leadership, deep care for our students and staff, and a passion for public education that has shaped generations in our community,” Board President David Caviness said in the official announcement. “On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I want to express our heartfelt gratitude for his service and wish him the best in his well-deserved retirement.”
The trustees have scheduled a special meeting for 5:30 p.m. on April 16, when they will discuss the process for hiring Hunt’s replacement.
District Pokes Paxton in Lawsuit Response
Coppell ISD’s lawyers pulled no punches when responding to the Texas attorney general’s “frivolous” lawsuit, which was framed as “political fodder.”
Not only did the school district’s lawyers deny the allegations in Ken Paxton’s suit, they asked Judge Gena Slaughter to sanction Paxton and his attorneys and force them to pay Coppell ISD’s legal fees.