By Kristy Zurbrick, Madison Editor
On Jan. 13, the London City Schools board of education appointed Dr. Martha Geib to one of two vacancies on the board. They will fill the other seat at a special meeting set for 6:30 p.m. Jan. 28 in the board conference room, Room 222 at London Elementary.
Geib, who has served one four-year term, filed to run for re-election in the November election, but couldn’t because the Madison County Board of Elections rejected her petition for being incomplete. Incumbent Marvin Homan is the only other candidate who filed. He was re-elected.
Three seats were up for election in November, which means the board must appoint one more person to complete the five-member board. They plan to interview three candidates who expressed interest in the position. Interviews are tentatively set for Jan. 18. By law, the appointment must be made by Jan. 31.
Both Geib and the other appointee will serve two years, through Dec. 31, 2015. The remaining two years of both terms will be up for election in the fall of 2015, which is the next time school board seats are up for election.
As for why the board didn’t fill both vacancies at the same time, Homan said, “Part of it was a time issue, but we also knew we wanted to appoint Martha and have her in on the interviews for the other board member.”
Annual reorganization of the board
At the Jan. 13 meeting, the board re-elected Homan as board president for 2014 and Curtis Brooks as vice president.
Board members committed to various committee and council assignments for the year. Some of the spots were left open for the incoming appointed board member. The assignments as they now stand are:
• London Community Foundation and Central Madison Joint Recreation District representatives: John Stahl. (District resident Don Herman also represents the district on this board.)
• Tax Abatement Committee liaison: Homan.
• London City Schools Foundation Board representatives: Geib. (The second spot was left vacant for now.)
• London City Schools Business Advisory Council representatives: Geib. (The second spot was left vacant for now.)
• London Academy liasons: Brooks and Stahl.
• Student achievement liaison: Geib.
• Communications/public relations liaison: Geib.
• Ohio School Boards Association Central Region Chapter liaison: Brooks.
• Tolles Career and Technical Center board of education representative: Brooks.
• Finance and buildings/grounds committee: Brooks. (The second spot was left vacant for now. In the past, Geib sat on the committee, but she suggested that the new appointee fill the spot as a good way to get to know the district’s finances.)
Regular board meetings will continue to take place at 6 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month in the London High School lecture hall. The exceptions are as follows: June 24, July 15, Oct. 21 and Nov. 18 (all on the third Tuesday of the month).
