New Chilton County Superintendent of Education Dave Hayden stood outside Clanton City Hall’s auditorium Sunday afternoon, greeting everyone as they filed into the room for his oath of office.

Hayden, a Clanton Middle School teacher and attorney, won November’s election with 59.74 percent on the vote over challengers Jason Griffin and Louise Pitts.

Hayden was given the oath of office by attorney Bill Latham as his family, friends and supporters looked on.

“For the next four years, I want our schools to be a little better than they are now,” said Hayden. “I want to do what’s best for roughly 4,300 tax payers and 7,700 students.”

Hayden will officially take his seat as superintendent in January and is ready to take on his responsibilities, after an election that featured a Republican runoff and three-way race in November.

“An old senator once said, ‘It’s time to put away the buttons and take care of the task at hand,’” Hayden said. “In order to make it apply to Chilton County, I would say, it’s time to put away the tacky signs and take care of the task at hand.”

The tasks at hand are important and have real consequences, he said.

“If you’re not a little nervous going into this then you are in the wrong place,” he said. “Children and taxpayers depend on our decisions.”