The First Meeting

First Time for Everything - I officially started my service on the Lansing School Board and I have to say, we’re off to a good start. Opening the meeting, Rachel Lewis, Nicole Armbruster and I took the oath of office to officially take our seats on the board of education for our seven year terms. Yes, you read that correctly, seven years. When I started my campaign it was for a six year term, but House Bill 4005 changed that as it requires all school board elections to be held in November of even years, automatically extending my term by a year.

The second order of business was electing board officers. This was a very important decision that none of us took lightly. The executive committee for 2012 will have many challenging issues to handle and we as a board will look to their leadership in very trying times. The officers are as follows:

• Myra Ford - President 
• Nino Rodriguez - Vice President
• Nicole Armbruster - Secretary
• Guillermo Lopez - Treasurer

The board also approved several routine matters on the consent agenda:

1. Designated Depositories for Lansing School District Funds
2. Designated Auditing Firm
3. Designated Attorney Appointments/Law Firms
4. Appointed Peter Jensen as Lansing School District’s Title IX Representative
5. Appointed Mary Kay Scullion as Lansing Board of Education’s Parliamentarian
6. Appointed Karen Potter as staff person responsible for posting public notices of meetings of the Board of Education
7. Adopted the 2012 Board Meeting Schedule

In addition to the consent agenda, the board approved some conference reimbursement expenses for Mr. Charles Ford and approved a Request for Proposal document to begin the search process for a permanent superintendent. Continuing along the line of the search process, the board also authorized the executive committee to compile a list of at least five external candidates to fill the position of interim superintendent.

At the last meeting in December, Dr. TC Wallace and board consultant Yvonne Caamal Canul presented a transition plan that included the suggestion of hiring an interim superintendent to begin working in the district while the board is engaged in the process of searching for a permanent candidate. Dr. Wallace’s contract concludes at the end of June and the board felt it was necessary to have an interim in place ahead of time in case the search doesn’t conclude by July 1. I personally feel that we will have a superintendent in place by the beginning of the next school year, but the action taken by the board this week gives us the time to ensure that the right candidate is found.

This concluded the first meeting (in about an hour). I was very pleased with the meeting. The entire board had an attitude of cooperation with an eye toward the future--an attitude I hope we can maintain. Our next regularly scheduled meeting is Jan. 19, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. We’re in the process of scheduling our retreat and that will be posted on the district website as soon as the date is decided.