Board president Kimble Slaton tenured his resignation from the Vicksburg Warren School District board on Thursday.

Slaton, who represented District 4, said he was stepping down in compliance with the state law that requires a school board trustee to resign his or her position within 30 days of moving out of their respective district. Slaton and his wife, Susan, recently moved into a new home located in District 3. Therefore, with the deadline approaching, Slaton and he just “decided to go ahead and make it official.”

Having to relinquish the position, Slaton said, was tough.

“Over the last few years of being on that board, I’ve become attached to the system and to the kids and to the teachers. I’m going to miss everybody on the board, and I’m really heartbroken I won’t be able to help our new superintendent fulfill his goals there,” he said.

Initially, Slaton said he became interested in serving on the school board in 2019 after the bond issue was passed.

“My major concern at that point was watching the finances of that bond money and watching how it was going to be handled. It was such a large amount of money that I thought we needed a set of eyes or two on it other than the normal people that were going to be managing it. In other words, I thought we needed somebody that was going to look between the lines and that had some level of expertise in the field of working with architects, and contractors and all who were going to be involved in all these projects.”

And because his business lends itself to working with those professions, Slaton said that was what initially led him to serve.

“But then I started falling in love with the teachers and the kids and I became a dad of the district again,” Slaton laughed, adding, “My son has been gone since 2009, but I feel like I have 7,000 of them now and that’s the heartbreak part of leaving.”

Slaton began serving on the board in 2019 after District 4 Trustee Joe Loviza resigned after he moved from the district.

While serving as a trustee, Slaton said he became educated to the inner workings of the VWSD.

“I learned so much in those years of being on the board that everyone in the public should know, and I wish I could sit down with everyone and explain to them how the finances work and how the administration of the school district is handled. It is just eye opening when you start seeing how that actually happens every day,” he said.

When asked if he would consider running for school board trustee again, Slaton said he just didn’t know.

“I don’t know what the structure of the board is going to look like at that time, so it’s just going to be one of those wait and see situations because District 3’s seat doesn’t come up for another four years,” he said.