HUTTO – After 41 years in education, Dr. Celina Estrada Thomas has given notice that she will vacate the top spot at Hutto Independent School District effective Aug. 31.
Board president Billie Logiudice announced the impending retirement after the board came back from executive session at the May 11 meeting, telling the audience that Estrada had submitted a letter of intent.
“She said a year ago when her son came home from the military that she was going to be making it a point to spend time with him. Forty-one years is a long time and ending it with so many accomplishments in Hutto Independent School District is a great way,” Logiudice said.
The letter of intent needs to be formally accepted by the board and Logiudice said that the acceptance, as well as a strategy for moving forward, will be made at a future meeting.
“Serving the Hutto ISD Community for the last six school years has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my educational career,” Estrada Thomas said in a letter emailed to district staff and parents. “I am proud of what we have accomplished together amidst a global pandemic, financial constraints, exploding growth, changing societal demographics, and the never-ending and constantly changing state mandates.”
At the same board meeting where her retirement was announced, the superintendent had the opportunity to congratulate dozens of students who had competed at State championships throughout the school year, and to hear the first steps of a strategy for growth using the $522 million bond which was passed under her watch.
Estrada Thomas stated that her intention is to have her successor “inherit a school district with exemplary leadership and systems poised for continued success.” She said she will continue in her position until the board is able to hire her replacement.
“This (retirement) does not mean I will be disappearing from the public school scene or from Hutto anytime soon. My husband and I love this community,” Estrada Thomas said. “There is still plenty of fire and passion in me to fight for public education. I will take a few months to rest in the fall, but it is my full intention to continue serving the students and educators in Texas in different ways.”
