Andy Thibault

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Thibault resigns board post
Litchfield resident takes TV news job
By John McKenna
©2003 Republican-American
May 16, 2003

LITCHFIELD - Board of Education member Andy Thibault has resigned from the  board, citing a need to focus on his professional endeavors which include a new job with Fox 61 News in Hartford.

     Thibault served four years of a six-year term and had risen to the rank of vice chairman of the board and chairman of the board's facilities committee. He notified school board chairman Diane Knox and Superintendent John Tindall-Gibson of his decision Thursday.

     "During my four years on the school board, I have gained a deep appreciation for the work of students, teachers, administrators and yes, even board members," Thibault wrote in a letter to Knox and Tindall-Gibson. "I know that you and our colleagues have a just cause, trying to make better lives and better opportunities for our young citizens and the
community at large.

     "I wish you all the best as you struggle to improve the quality of facilities and curriculum, and I thank you for the fellowship."

     It will be up to the school board to select a replacement for Thibault. His successor will serve until November and then be eligible to run in the municipal election for the right to serve out the remaining two years of Thibault's term.

     Tindall-Gibson said the board will miss Thibault's candid approach.

     "He's been an outspoken advocate for student rights and his participation was always welcome," Tindall-Gibson said. "When there was something he was interested in, he was very outspoken and assertive."

     Thibault begins his new job as assignment editor at Fox 61 News on Monday. A print journalist by trade, Thibault will be working in television for the first time. He has been working as an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Hartford and a columnist for the Connecticut Law Tribune.

     "I'm anxious to get back into a newsroom," Thibault said of his television job, which will involve developing story ideas with the news station's on-air reporters. "I certainly have a lot to learn about the technical aspects of broadcast journalism."

     The demands of his new job, combined with his other professional obligations, would make serving on the school board difficult, Thibault said.

     "My plate is full, so I think it is a good time to step away from public service," he said. "I'm very happy with what the board has accomplished the last four years. We've made some personnel moves that have vastly improved
education in Litchfield."

     Thibault pointed to the hiring of Tindall-Gibson in 2000 and the subsequent hiring of Litchfield Intermediate School principal Anne Stuhlman as positive moves for the school system. As chairman of the school board's facilities committee, Thibault was heavily involved in the board's ongoing effort to get a school building project approved.

    Thibault plans to continue serving as manager of the IMPAC/Connecticut State University Young Writers Program. The program holds an annual poetry and prose writing contest for state high school students.
 

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