Plymale to take post in Trinity

Waelder ISD Schools superintendent Dave Plymale, credited with helping reverse that district’s sagging standards and return it to an academically acceptable status, has been named the lone finalist for the superintendent’s post in the Trinity ISD near Huntsville.
The Trinity Board of Trustees made the choice of Plymale in its July 19 meeting, and is expected to formally offer him the post Aug. 10. That school district has also been rated academically unacceptable by the Texas Education Agency, with its junior high rated below standard for the second straight year.
“Our accomplishments at Waelder were the result of a lot of people, the school board and the staff, all working together,” Plymale said Wednesday. “I’m facing a similar challenge at Trinity.
“This was a very difficult decision,” he added. “I’m going to miss a lot of people here.”
Plymale came to the Waelder school district in 2006 and faced an academically unacceptable rating his first year. Putting a renewed emphasis on technology and a $3.855 bond issue in 2007 to help with new and renovated facilities, the district’s students scored at their highest-ever level in 2009 and 2010 on the English/Language Arts, science and social studies portions of the state accountability tests, returning to academically acceptable status in 2009 and 2010.
Plymale began his career as a coach at the college level at Marshall (W. Va.) University and St. Mary of the Plains College (Kan.). He spent 15 years as a teacher and coach in a number of Texas districts and served as principal at schools in Yorktown, Coolidge and Prairie Lea ISDs.
Plymale’s wife, Kristi, is a school secretary and bookkeeper in the Hays Consolidated school district in Buda. The couple have six children and three grandchildren.