ELYSIAN FIELDS – The Elysian Fields Independent School District Board of Trustees has announced the retirement and resignation of Maynard Chapman as Superintendent of Schools, effective June 30, 2022.
An agreement has been reached that allows EFISD to begin the process of hiring a new superintendent while giving Chapman the “freedom to enjoy a well-earned retirement and pursue other interests.”
Chapman has served EFISD for 41 years, the last 11 of which were in the role of superintendent. He and the Board, in a joint statement, “believe that it is in their best respective interests and in the best interests of the District” to allow Chapman to resign and enter retirement.
The agreement was finalized during a Special Called Meeting of the Board of Trustees last week.
Monica Simmons, Assistant Superintendent, has been named Acting Superintendent of EFISD.
“In more than four decades of educational service at Elysian Fields ISD, Mr. Chapman has played an enormous role in the success of this district and in the lives of so many students,” EFISD Trustees said in a joint statement. “The Board extends its sincere best wishes to Mr. Chapman in his retirement and other future endeavors.”
Chapman began serving as Superintendent of Schools in EFISD in 2011. He was principal of Elysian Fields Middle School for 17 years prior to being named superintendent upon the retirement of longtime EFISD Superintendent, Dr. Bob Browning. During his time as Principal at EFMS, he was named the Region 7 Middle School Principal of the Year and led the school to receive numerous awards.
Born in Mobile, Ala., Mr. Chapman attended and received his degree from Wiley College in Marshall and afterwards began his career as a Math teacher at Elysian Fields Elementary. After three years at the elementary school, Mr. Chapman moved on to teach sixth grade before moving up to Elysian Fields High School to serve as basketball coach and assistant principal. He was then promoted to principal at the middle school.
Mrs. Simmons is in her 19th year in EFISD. She was named the district’s Assistant Superintendent this past summer while also serving as the district’s curriculum director, federal programs director and testing coordinator. Before that, she worked as both a teacher and administrator in the district.
Simmons joined the district in 2002 as a student teacher and then a first-grade teacher. She worked in the district for five years before serving a year in Marshall ISD as a reading interventionist at William B. Travis Elementary School. Simmons returned to Elysian Fields in 2009, serving as an eighth-grade English and language arts teacher between 2009-2012 and a third-grade teacher from 2012-2017. She served as the assistant principal at Elysian Fields Elementary from 2017-2019 prior to being named the EFISD Curriculum Director.
Simmons has earned several awards during her career, including being the 2013-14 Elysian Fields Elementary Teacher of the Year, the 2019 TEPSA Region 7 Assistant Principal of the Year and the Marshall News Messenger and Wiley College Black History Month Now Winner in 2020.
Simmons earned her associate’s degree at Panola College, her bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas at Tyler, her master’s degree at UT Tyler, her principal certification from Stephen F. Austin State University and her superintendent certification from UT Tyler.