By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green Board of Education is starting the new year with a new president, later meeting times, and plans to take meetings on the road to rural locations.
During the board’s organizational meeting of the year on Wednesday, Tracy Hovest was elected president and Norm Geer was elected vice president. Immediate past president is Ryan Myers.
District Treasurer Cathy Schuller swore in two new board members, Ardy Gonyer and Peggy Thompson, plus Hovest who was re-elected to the board.
Hovest, who was the top vote getter in the November election for school board, said she sees this coming year as a time for building – building relationships, building trust, building on district successes, and building a new high school.
The focus will be “building a better Bowling Green City School District,” she said.
Hovest has been waiting for the top leadership position, after being passed over for it two years ago. But that’s old news.
“It’s water under the bridge,” she said.
The board will hold a retreat on Feb. 8. “We’ll be building that foundation to move us forward,” Hovest said.
During discussions about the board’s meeting schedule for the year, Thompson suggested that the board consider holding its monthly meetings later, rather than 5:30 p.m.
“A lot of people are getting off work then,” making it difficult for them to attend, Thompson said of the earlier meeting time.
Gonyer said he also heard concerns about the meeting times, and suggested 6 p.m. as a “middleground” which would make it easier for some people to attend, while not extending the meeting too late into the evening for school officials.
The board agreed to change monthly meeting times to 6 p.m.
Gonyer also suggested that the board consider holding a couple meetings a year in the rural areas of the school district. Hovest agreed that would help with “building those bridges” with rural residents of the school district.
The board agreed to hold two meetings this year in rural locations. “If it’s successful, we can go from there,” Gonyer said.
Other monthly meetings of the school board will continue to be held in the atrium of the district’s Performing Arts Center.
Hovest will look for locations with sufficient wifi to hold the rural meetings.
