(Posted Jan. 22, 2018)
By Sandi Latimer, Staff Writer
Mark Mason was elected president of the Madison-Plains school board at the board’s annual organizational meeting held Jan. 10. Anthula Xenikis was named vice president.
Also at the meeting, the oath of office was administered to board members who were elected in November: new member Cory Coburn, Xenikis who was elected to her first full term, and Kelly Cooley who was re-elected.
The board voted to eliminate its audit committee and district leadership team and curriculum council in favor of forming four new advisory committees covering communications, facilities and grounds, academics, and finances.
In student recognition, senior Ryan Bevington received a Congressional Student of the Month award. He is active in athletics, FFA and the yearbook staff.
District spelling bee winners were applauded. Jakob Slagle was the middle school winner while Sidney Madden needed 12 rounds to beat out Clifton Estep at the fourth-grade level.
Superintendent Tim Dettwiller recently spoke with ReadyFM’s “Community Matters’ host Greg Eades about the district’s performance on the latest State Report Card and its current financial challenges. The conversation is available to listen to or download at http://www.readyfm.com/index.php/podcasts/community-matters. It covers two podcasts.
The board plans to put a levy on the May election ballot. They collected input from the community at a Madison-Plains Advisory Council meeting on Jan. 17 and met in special session on Jan. 18 to decide what form the levy will take. The two options under consideration were an income tax levy and a property tax levy. (The special session took place after the Messenger print deadline. Watch for an updated story in our next print edition and at madisonmessengernews.com.)
The board’s next regular meeting is set for 7 p.m. Feb. 20 in the board conference room in the elementary school building. The meeting is open to the public.
