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Pelham City Schools said goodbye to Place 3 Board Member Allan Wade and swore in incoming member Robert Plummer on May 24. (Contributed)

The Pelham City Schools said goodbye to Place 3 Board Member Allan Wade and swore incoming member Robert Plummer on May 24. (Contributed)

The Pelham City Schools said goodbye to Place 3 Board Member Allan Wade and swore incoming member Robert Plummer on May 24. (Contributed)

The Pelham City Schools said goodbye to Place 3 Board Member Allan Wade and swore incoming member Robert Plummer on May 24. (Contributed)

The Pelham City Schools said goodbye to Place 3 Board Member Allan Wade and swore incoming member Robert Plummer on May 24. (Contributed)

The Pelham City Schools said goodbye to Place 3 Board Member Allan Wade and swore incoming member Robert Plummer on May 24. (Contributed)

The Pelham City Schools said goodbye to Place 3 Board Member Allan Wade and swore incoming member Robert Plummer on May 24. (Contributed)

By NATHAN HOWELL | Staff Writer

PELHAM – After a lengthy interview process, the Pelham City Council selected Robert Plummer to replace Allan Wade on the Pelham City Schools Board of Education at the council meeting on May 24.

Wade, who was the former Chief of Police for the Pelham Police Department, announced his retirement earlier this year.

Pelham City Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Coefield said that he was grateful for Chief Wade’s service to the board.

“We have had a very good 2020-2021 school year,” Coefield said. “Chief Wade recently let us know that he would be leaving the board. We wanted to thank him for his years of service to Pelham as the police chief and on our board. We were very lucky to have him for the time that we did.”

Wade spoke at the board meeting about how his time as they city’s police chief, and how that led him to taking a spot on the BOE.

“I joined the PPD in 1973 as a reserve officer and was hired as a full-time police officer in 1974,” Wade said. “Of my 34 years at PPD I spent the last 24 years as Chief of Police, finally retiring in 2008. We moved to Georgia to be near our new grandkids, and eventually moved back home to Pelham in 2015. When we got back home I volunteered with the city council for any public service that they might feel I was suitable for.”

In 2016, Wade was appointed to a five-year term on the Board of Education, which he said was one of the best times of his life.

“Being a member of the Pelham City Schools Board of Education has been one of the highest points of my life,” Wade said. “I quickly learned what an unbelievable job the original board had done in taking a neglected, broken school system and turning into a first-class operation. The best part of my five years as a board member has been having the opportunity to see our absolutely terrific teachers and staff make a huge, positive impact on the education of our kids.”

With Wade’s vacancy approaching, the Pelham City Council conducted interviews over the past months to determine the best replacement for him on the board. After interviewing a number of qualified candidates, Robert Plummer was selected to take Wade’s spot in Place 3 on the board.

Wade is a businessman, having acted in a number of positions over his career, he also been very active in the local community, especially with the schools.

“Mr. Plummer and his kids have been in our school system from the very beginning, and one of them is still in our schools,” Coefield said. “He and his wife have both built an incredible reputation among everyone as they have participated in the schools. They have done way more than their fair share of volunteering and helping out. He is also a very respected business person that our staff knows very well. We just think that he will be a great addition to our board.”

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