Voters re-elected three board members and elected one new member Tuesday in the race for the Monroe County Community School Corporation Board of Trustees. Each candidate ran uncontested.
April Hennessey was re-elected as the District 2 board member with 22,499 votes.
Hennessey was an English teacher at Bloomington High School North for five school years beginning in 2013. She began serving on the board in 2020 when she won the election opposing the previous incumbent, Sue Wanzer, who filled the seat for 21 years. Hennessey said she maintains a big-picture perspective so she doesn’t lose sight of the reason she started the position.
“The reason I started this was for the students of our district,” Hennessey told the Indiana Daily Student prior to the election. “I wanted to ensure that we would be able to offer them safe places where they could learn and dream.”
With 21,074 votes, Tiana Williams Iruoje won the District 4 seat, which was vacated by incumbent Cathy Fuentes-Rowher.
Iruoje is secretary of the Foundation of Monroe County Community Schools and an appointed member on the Monroe County Women’s Commission. Iruoje is the director of student engagement and success at IU’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering. She is completing her doctorate in instructional systems technology at IU. Iruoje said her main service points are equity and inclusion, innovation in education and community engagement.
“I believe that every student deserves access to quality education regardless of their background or circumstances,” Iruoje told the IDS. “I’m dedicated to championing new ideas and technologies that actually enhance teaching methods and foster student engagement.”
Erin Cooperman was re-elected as the District 5 board member with 21,302 votes.
Cooperman, who started studying education at age 17, said she believes education has a significant effect on society. She is a lecturer in the Applied Health Science department at IU’s School of Public Health. Cooperman said being a part of the school board is an important role as a citizen because education is the cornerstone of a good society.
“We are so lucky to live in a community that has such support for public education,” Cooperman said before the election.
With 20,980 votes, Ross Grimes was re-elected as the board member for District 6.
Grimes graduated from IU Bloomington in 2021 and currently works in sales development with Fuse Autotech. Grimes described himself as a pragmatic realist who doesn’t believe in sacrificing the good for the pursuit of the perfect. He found the job rewarding and decided to run again to make a difference in priority population students.
“Our community needs to keep supporting public education,” Grimes said before the election. “Keep your kids in school and ask questions when you have them.”
The board will begin their new term on Jan. 1.
Editor’s note: Cathy Fuentes-Rowher is related to a writer currently on staff at the IDS. That writer was not involved in the reporting, writing or editing of this story.
