MANSFIELD — The Mansfield School Board meeting had two meetings Tuesday night.
The first meeting was held to organize the board for the year.
Renda Cline was sworn in as board president, replacing Judy Forney, who held the position last year. This is Cline’s fourth term as board president. Board member Chris Elswick nominated Cline for the position and she was the only nominee.
“I’m excited,” she said. “I’m excited to move forward with the different initiatives we have. Our district has a lot of good things to offer students here at Mansfield City Schools, so I’m looking forward to this year.”
Gary Feagin was the sole nominee for the vice president of the board, also nominated by Elswick.
Feagin said he was excited about having Cline as president, suggesting he could learn from her for when he is given the lead nomination.
“I can learn from her, as well as I did from Judy,” he said. “We have so many great things going on in this district. I’d like to see it move a little faster so the public can see it. I’m looking forward to this year.
The board also voted on other organizational items, including a meeting schedule of once per month, gathering on the third Tuesday of each month.
In 2018, the board met twice per month. Elswick said he saw benefits in both.
He said two monthly meetings allows the board to be more connected on matters and meeting once a month led to longer meetings in the past.
“In the past, we’ve had meetings once a month that would last for four hours,” he said. “(That’s) difficult, but we do have some very pressing needs for our district, which will require several special meetings (if we the board meets once a month). I think we did a lot of meetings last year, but I felt we were more connected.”
After all organizational items had been settled, the board started its regular meeting.
Supt. Brian Garverick showed the board a presentation about strategic plans. Garverick said he will ask the board to choose one of currently nine plans to help the district engage the community in discussion on the direction of the district and integrate the plans into a single plan to help them monitor the districts progress.
The board was relatively supported of the idea of choosing a plan.
Feagin said he didn’t want to choose a plan and stick it on a proverbial shelf.
“I wasn’t sure if we were ready for a strategic plan and I’m still concerned about it. Do we need one plan to pull everything together? I think that’s where the shift is going. I don’t want to spend money on one plan and then (forget about it). The monitoring plan is the part that bothers me,” Feagin said.
“I don’t want us to do a plan and the put it on a shelf and it just sits there. We have enough plans sitting on a shelf right now and I just don’t want this to be part of that. So I’m a little torn,” Feagin said.
Board members all agreed it was important to listen to the community and stakeholders’ interests and vision for the district.
“We do have a lot of plans that are moving and we have a lot of everyday things that are moving,” Cline said. “I think it’s important to have something simplistic and easy to understand for those wondering, ‘Why do we do this or that.’ … teamwork makes the dream work. If you understand how your piece works with someone else piece, that increases the chances of being successful.”
