RED LICK, Texas – Red Lick ISD trustees have named Mendy Sharp, who has led the district as interim superintendent since this summer, the lone finalist for the permanent job.
Board President David Price announced the choice Wednesday. The board had been scheduled to interview superintendent candidates in closed session Tuesday evening, with an agenda that allowed trustees to name a finalist afterward.
“Mendy has demonstrated a genuine commitment to our district and a heart for the students, staff, and families we serve,” Price said in the announcement. “As she steps into this new leadership role, we encourage our entire Red Lick ISD community to stand behind her, support her, and work together as we continue moving our district forward.”
Sharp is not officially hired yet. Texas law requires a school board to wait at least 21 days after naming a finalist before it votes on a contract, which puts the earliest vote in early December.
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Twenty-five years in Northeast Texas education
Sharp joined Red Lick ISD last year as chief academic and operations officer. The district said at the time that she came from Texarkana College and had earlier been the high school principal at Pleasant Grove ISD, where she also worked in the central office.
Sharp said Wednesday that she has worked in public education for 25 years, all of it in the Region 8 area of Northeast Texas, “spanning from classroom teacher to higher education,” and has spent the past year at Red Lick ISD.
At Texarkana College she was executive director of Community and Business Education, the division that runs workforce training, continuing education and the summer Kids’ College program.
She grew up in Maud and graduated from Maud High School, according to a 2025 profile in ALT Magazine. She earned an associate degree at Texarkana College and a bachelor’s degree at Texas A&M University-Texarkana, taught for 10 years, then went back to A&M-Texarkana for a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction and her principal and superintendent certifications.
Filling the seat Dennard left
The job came open when Brandon Dennard, Red Lick’s superintendent since 2018, left to lead Pittsburg ISD in Camp County. Pittsburg trustees named him their lone finalist in May, and the Red Lick board made Sharp interim superintendent as he departed.
Red Lick ISD is a two-campus district north of Texarkana with an elementary school and a middle school. It enrolled 516 students last school year, according to Texas Education Agency data, and earned an A in the state’s most recent accountability ratings.
Red Lick is not the only Bowie County district choosing a new leader this week. Texarkana ISD trustees have been interviewing superintendent candidates in closed session, and their Thursday agenda lists a vote on naming a lone finalist.