Georgia School Board Association (GSBA) is pleased to announce that Coffee County Schools Vice Chair Bryan Preston from District 4 has been installed as the president of the Georgia School Board Association Board of Directors after serving this past year as president elect of the GSBA Board of Directors. The GSBA Delegate Assembly was held on June 23 and the officers were approved for the year beginning July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022.
The duties of the president include presiding over meetings of the Delegate Assembly, the executive committee and the board of directors. Officers of the GSBA Board of Directors have numerous responsibilities, including governing the affairs of the association, adopting policies for the governing of the association, transacting the business of the association, employing the executive director, and adopting standing legislative policies and position statements.
Mr. Preston was elected to his local Board of Education in December 2010 and has served as a member of the Coffee County Board of Education since January 1, 2011. He began his 3rd term in January 2019. During his tenure, Mr. Preston has served as Local Board Chair and Vice-Chair during his first 2 terms and now serves as Vice Chair in his 3rd term.
Prior to his tenure as an Officer to GSBA Mr. Preston had served as a District Director (District 8) for GSBA and has served on the GSBA Board Chair Advisory Committee, the Governmental Operations Committee (GOC), and as Delegate for Coffee County during GSBA’s Delegate Assembly. As a member of the Coffee County Board of Education Mr. Preston has made several presentations and served on panels of discussion at member conferences including topics on Board Governance, Strategic Planning, Charter Systems and School Safety and Security.
Mr. Preston is a proponent of local control, whereby the local Board of Education makes decisions locally to best serve their Students and Community and he maintains strong relationships with his State Legislators and local City and County governing agencies. Mr. Preston has worked for 25 years in Foodservice Sales and Marketing and is employed as a Regional Account Executive with Waypoint, a national foodservice sales and marketing company. He and his wife Mary are both graduates of the University of Georgia. Mary recently retired from the school district after 31 years teaching in elementary classrooms for Clarke and Coffee counties. Mr. Preston and his wife have a daughter, Chelsea, a graduate of Valdosta State University. Mary and Chelsea are Mr. Preston’s inspiration to serve his community as a local school board member. Bryan is the son of Tom and Janice Preston of Douglas, GA.
Georgia School Boards Association has served the state’s public school boards of education since 1951 by advocating for local control of public education, and by offering programs and assistance to local boards of education and school systems. GSBA’s services have evolved from a professional development program and general “meeting ground” for school board members into a full service association. Today, GSBA offers its members numerous programs including legislative representation, year-round training opportunities, risk management, finance services, legal and policy services, a superintendent search service, public engagement services and its many publications to keep school leaders informed and on track.