New members, new leadership for Columbus school board
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Columbus City School Board of Education is under new leadership after a vote for president and vice president.
The board’s new leadership is emphasizing community engagement, but transparency was the word of the night for the newly elected board members. Sarah Ingles and Brandon Simmons stressed this is one of the goals they are hoping to focus on this year. Ingles and Simmons replace members Carole Beckerle and Eric Brown.
"I'll be really analyzing how do things really work and how they ought to work and trying to consolidate the two of them so that our processes make sense, that they're able to be articulated clearly to our parents and our families," Ingles said. "So that we can find ways to involve our community more in the education of our students."
The other new face on the board also brought up transparency.
"I think we have some cultural obstacles in the district where we haven't always prioritized transparency,” Simmons said. “There's been other interests that we've prioritized. I think it's about building a culture, building a culture of transparency first, convenience last. I really ran on making investments in our classrooms and our buildings and the people that work in our classrooms every day with our students: our teachers, our custodians, our food service workers, our instructional aides supporting the people who actually do the work in the district is what I ran on."
In addition to Simmons and Ingles, former board president Jennifer Adair and Dr. Tina Pierce secured another term on the board in November's election.
Board leadership agreed transparency is an important focus. New board president Christina Vera, the first Latina elected to the post, also said community engagement is something she wants to focus on.
"Making sure that our stakeholders continue to have access to us, to be able to be at the table in the conversations as we're going to be the district forward. For me, it's just about being able to contribute to my board in this way," Vera said.
New vice president Dr. Tina Pierce agreed, adding everyone is focused on improving the district.
"Our board took action to show them that we are ready to stand together with them and partnership to move forward, to improve the lives of our students and families, working in partnership with the administration," Pierce said.
When asked about the district’s levy approved in November (set to bring in more than $99 million a year), both Vera and Pierce said the money passing really showed the community support for the district and they are looking forward to continuing that momentum.
"In November, we witnessed the power of our community,” Pierce said. “We want to continue to build on that momentum, to harness that engagement. And again, in true partnership, bring them in to partner with us, to work alongside us, to improve the lives of our students and families.”