(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) The St. Joseph School District’s Board of Education is bringing back two community-based committees.
During Monday night’s Board of Education meeting, the board voted and approved the academic and finance committees including the seven community members on each committee.
Here are the seven members of the Academics/CSIP committee:
Nancy Gregory (Selected by Kim Miller)
Michael Evans (Selected by Mike Moore)
Reba Kendall (Selected by Jennifer Kerns: I appointed Reba Kendall to serve on the Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP) Committee. She brings meaningful experience to this role, having previously worked at Hillyard Technical Center, filled in as a substitute teacher, and served on the academic committee before committees were discontinued. Reba’s passion for our district and commitment to student success make her a strong asset to this work, and I look forward to her serving on the CSIP committee.”)
Jacob McMillian (Selected by Ronda Chesney: “My choice for committee members was based on the community members’ interest in the district’s success, knowledge of the subject matter of the committee and a desire to help improve our district’s success in finance and academics. I feel community input is so important to the overall support of our students. They also offer very valuable ideas to the board to help us continue to move forward. I am excited to get the committees going.”)
Mackenzie Norton (Selected by Tom Richmond: “Mosaic Nurse. Mother of 2 in the District (more to come). Active in Vision Forward.”)
Cassandra Veale (Selected by Whitney Lanning: “Cassandra Veale is a psychiatric nurse practitioner with four children in the district. Cassandra ran for BOE and applied for the vacant BOE seat in May. During her campaign and interview she talked about the importance of considering mental health and trauma when discussing issues like student educational attainment and employe recruitment and retention. She’s shown a commitment to the success of the district by running and applying for the BOE and I believe her education, experience, and focus on the wellbeing of both the students and the staff will greatly benefit our work.”)
Tama Wagner (Selected by LaTonya Williams: “My choices for the committees are Tama Wagner for Academics and Gary Wilkinson for Finance. Both are extremely experienced in those fields, as well as being positive representatives of the community who can help drive us forward. Each have served our district in the past in several avenues, so it was important for me that the ones I chose have vast knowledge of our unique struggles and issues, but also not bring any excess baggage so our focus can stay on the heavy tasks at hand. I’m looking forward to working with them in this capacity.”)
Here are the seven members of the Finance committee:
Lori Dragoo (Selected by Kim Miller)
Isaura Garcia (Selected by Ronda Chesney: “My choice for committee members was based on the community members’ interest in the district’s success, knowledge of the subject matter of the committee and a desire to help improve our district’s success in finance and academics. I feel community input is so important to the overall support of our students. They also offer very valuable ideas to the board to help us continue to move forward. I am excited to get the committees going.”)
Dennis Rosonke (Selected by Jennifer Kerns: “I have appointed Dennis Rosonke to serve on the Finance Committee. Dennis brings a wealth of experience as a longtime Chief Financial Officer and has previously served on the finance committee for SJSD. He is a highly involved and well-respected member of our community who is deeply committed to the success of both our schools and our city. I’m grateful for his willingness to serve and confident he will be a valuable voice on this committee.”
Teresa Simmons (Selected by Teresa Simmons: “Teresa Simmons has many years of experience in the banking industry. Teresa currently serves as a loan officer at MOKAN Regional Council of government, where she works with small business loans and government funding sources. Teresa also served on the Vision Forward committee and has been an advocate of SJSD for many years. She graduated from SJSD, as did her children, one of whom currently works for the district.”)
Joe Voltmer (Selected by Tom Richmond: “Triumph Controller. Active in the community, positive about the District moving forward.”)
Wade Wetlaufer (Selected by Mike Moore)
Gary Wilkinson (Selected by LaTonya Williams: “My choices for the committees are Tama Wagner for Academics and Gary Wilkinson for Finance. Both are extremely experienced in those fields, as well as being positive representatives of the community who can help drive us forward. Each have served our district in the past in several avenues, so it was important for me that the ones I chose have vast knowledge of our unique struggles and issues, but also not bring any excess baggage so our focus can stay on the heavy tasks at hand. I’m looking forward to working with them in this capacity.”)
KQ2 reached out to each board member for their reasoning for their choices for the committee. We will continue to update this story as we receive those answers.
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