Recently elected members take oath of office
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
It was something old and something new for the Burlington Area School District Board of Education April 24 at the annual reorganizational meeting.
Three board members took the oath of office, including Susan Kessler, who served two terms on the School Board from 2006 to 2012, incumbent Rosanne Hahn and newcomer Peter Turke.
The trio won a four-way race for the three open seats in the April 4 election. Those seats were previously held by Hahn, Todd Terry, who stepped down after serving a single term, and William Campbell, who retired after more than 30 years on the board.
The meeting also served as a platform for the election of officers for the current term. Jim Bousman was re-elected board president, Barry Schmaling was elected vice president – replacing Campbell, Hahn was re-elected clerk and Kevin Bird was returned to the treasurer post.
All were installed by a unanimous voice vote of the board.
Bousman also made his committee appointments, which gained board approval.
The committee appointments are:
Buildings and Grounds: Turke (chairman), Schmaling, Phil Ketterhagen
Community Relations: Kessler (chairwoman), Ketterhagen, Bird
Curriculum: Hahn (chairwoman), Kessler, Turke
Finance: Bird (chairman), Bousman, Turke
Long-Range Planning: Bousman (chairman), Schmaling, Hahn
Personnel: Schmaling (chairman), Hahn, Bousman
Policy: Ketterhagen (chairman), Kessler, Bird
Ketterhagen asked why he was not returned to the Curriculum Committee and Bousman replied that it was simply a matter of logistics in an attempt to balance the workloads of board members.
Bird suggested the board consider naming alternate members to each committee to step up in the event that one of the members of a three-person committee is unavailable for deliberation of important matters.
Bousman said the matter would likely be considered in the future.
Other business
In the special School Board meeting that followed, the board approved the issuance of a preliminary layoff notice for the equivalent of 1.5 teachers.
Supt. Peter Smet said Tuesday that the end of a single-year contract to fill in for a teacher who was on leave this school year accounts for the full-time teacher who will be laid off. The position will remain next year, however, as the regular teacher returns.
The 50 percent reduction in a teaching position is due to declining enrollment at the high school.
Smet said any other staff reductions will be handled through attrition – meaning resignations and retirements will account for the remainder.
“Our goal is to keep our pupil-teacher ratio the same over time,” he said.
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