It was an evening of comings, goings and celebration for the Edmonds School Board at its last regular meeting of the year on Tuesday night. The Board also heard reports on secondary student learning trends and strategic direction indicators, both of which provided useful data for future decision-making.
Prior to calling the meeting to order, the board held a farewell reception honoring departing members Kory DeMun and April Nowak and thanking them for their years of service.
The first formal order of business was the swearing in of new and re-elected board members. Superintendent Nick Brossoit administered the oath of office to a beaming Carin Chase, who vowed to devote her “full energies” to providing effective governance as a board member. Brossoit then administered the oath to re-elected members Gary Noble and Diana White. Newly-elected board member Susan Phillips was unable to attend Tuesday night’s meeting due to a family commitment; she will be sworn in at the Jan. 12, 2016 board meeting.
A highlight of the evening was a ceremony honoring and presenting a plaque to the Meadowdale High School volleyball team in recognition of their second year of winning the academic state championship with the highest combined cumulative GPA of all 3A volleyball teams — 3.87.
“It is such a privilege to coach and guide these amazing young women,” said coach Machen Shrum. “But it couldn’t happen without strong support from the parents who provide a home environment that values and encourages learning.”
In other business, the board heard a report on secondary learning trends from Dr. Patrick Murphy, and an update on how the strategic direction indicators are being made more accessible through graphic displays of data from Lara Drew.
The meeting closed with a report from Board President Diana White outlining strategies for conducting a search to find a replacement for retiring Superintendent Nick Brossoit, who will be leaving at the end of the current academic year. The board was in general agreement that rather than do the search in-house, a consultant should be retained to conduct the search. The board set Jan. 14 as a target date to interview potential search firms.
— Story and photos by Larry Vogel
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