Tess Halbrooks added to Madison City school board; she replaces Alice Lessmann

MADISON – The newest school board member for Madison City Schools was sworn last week.

Tess Halbrooks took the oath of office at a BOE meeting on Thursday. She replaces Alice Lessmann, who just joined the Madison City Council.

Municipal Judge Aaron Ryan administered the oath to Halbrooks as her husband, Chris; and sons Luke and Benjamin looked on. Both attend Heritage Elementary.

Tess’s passion for Madison City Schools began with her oldest son’s enrollment in kindergarten. She is an active volunteer in the school and enjoys serving the teachers and school community. She was part of the Leadership Greater Huntsville program and also served on their board of directors. Her sons are active in Madison city sports, and she enjoys cheering them on and volunteering with their teams.

A native of Houma, La., Tess moved here with her husband and sons in 2020. Prior to relocating to Madison, they lived in the Dallas area. Her husband, Chris, grew up in Hartselle and his family has been longtime Madison residents.

Tess holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and master’s degree in accounting from Tulane University. She worked in public accounting with PricewaterhouseCoopers before taking on various accounting and finance leadership roles in large companies such as Neiman Marcus, GameStop and Adtran.

She now serves as Vice President, Controller of Litmos, a learning and development software company, where she leads their accounting function.

Tess is looking forward to serving the Madison City School district on the BOE and continuing the vision of “Empowering all students for global success.”