By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Two candidates who won election in April to the St. Joseph School Board have been officially sworn in.
During a reorganization meeting the board officially had Whitney Lanning and Rick Gehring sworn into office by Fourth District Circuit Judge Daniel Kellogg
Lanning says her goal now that she's officially on the board is to work hard to stay educated and informed on issues facing the district
"Listen to students and staff and make sure that I'm making good, solid, and informed decisions," Lanning tells reporters following the meeting.
Gehring says his goals that he touted during the campaign remain the same as he begins his tenure
"At the end of the day, what's best for the teachers and what's best for the students, those are the two things," Gehring says.
The board also recognized outgoing members Rick Gilmore and Phil Vandel for their work on the school board.
Lanning says one of her focuses in helping the district will be utilizing her knowledge of managing financials
"Finance and school finances have a lot of different nuances, so fortunately I'm pretty familiar with a lot of that," Lanning says. "So, I think that's what I can bring."
Gehring says one area he would like to focus on is continuing to advance the work in early childhood education
"I think getting kids ready for kindergarten has been an issue in the past, so having Lake Contrary, having Mark Twain, and hopefully moving forward even another building that we can use for early childhood to get these kids ready to enter into kindergarten," Gehring explains.
Despite recent criticisms of the district's handling of a DWI charge for Superintendent Gabe Edgar, both Lanning and Gehring seem ready to go.
Lanning says despite the situation and the criticism the school board is facing, she knew exactly what she was signing up for when she won.
"I think anybody that runs thinking that it's all going to be pie in the sky and rainbows doesn't have a very clear understanding of the role of the board," Lanning says. "So, there are going to be difficult things over the next three years but I'm ready to tackle those."
Gehring says he's aware that some of the decisions that are made by the district won't always be the most popular
"But you have to really look out what's best for the district, what's best for our kids, and what's best for our staff, and that's going to drive all the decisions I make, whether it be popular or not," Gehring says.
The board also voted unanimously to name LaTonya Williams the new school board President after David Foster announced he would step away from the position. Ken Reeder was named to replace Williams as the new Vice President.
