The Monroe County Community School Corporation board met Jan. 8 for its annual reorganization meeting to add two new members, including Elizabeth Ruh and Brandon Shurr.
Several committee positions are still vacant, and other changes, such as a new construction plan and bus replacement plan, are still being discussed.
New member Ruh is replacing Kelly Smith in District One, and Shurr is replacing Jeannine Butler in District Seven.
Vice President Keith Klein nominated Lois Sabo-Skelton as president, Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer as secretary and Ruh as assistant secretary. These nominations were all approved by the board, which consists of board member Martha Street, previous president Kelly Smith and Klein.
Ruh and Shurr were also nominated as appointees to several committees. Ruh was unaware she was being considered for these positions and said she needed more information before accepting.
“It seems like there was not a lot of communication,” Ruh said.
Ruh said these committee positions were given to the former board members that held Ruh and Shurr’s current seats, so the positions transferred over to them.
The committee positions Ruh and Shurr were nominated for remain open for now.
MCCSC spokesperson Andrew Clampitt said the board will have more meetings to discuss changes.The board is meeting at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 15 for a private executive work session, which will include discussing new positions and the unresolved committee nominations.
The board also has regular meetings each Tuesday to review upcoming projects. Ruh said one of these new plans is a construction project at Tri-North Middle School to replace the building.
MCCSC is examining other possible issues in 2019. In the 2017-2018 school year, the school corporation had a shortage of bus drivers and did not meet contractual obligations with the transportation department, Clampitt said.
The board made changes and increased the wages of bus drivers.
“We were able to attract enough bus drivers to have a fully staffed transportation department, so that was good,” Clampitt said. “We are hoping it is not a problem in the future.”
The board has maintained this quota of bus drivers in 2019.
MCCSC is currently working on a plan to replace all school buses in the district. The bus replacement plan is meant to begin in 2019 and end in 2023. School buses on average only last about 12 years.
To explore these projects for the new year, Ruh said there will be a board retreat in February to discuss projects and board changes.
“It should help us resolve some things,” Ruh said.
