Bedford School Board Members Take Their Seats

The board of education welcomed  its new members Thursday morning and re-elected Susan Elion Wollin to serve as its president, and Mark Chernis as vice-president.

Jennifer Gerken took the oath of office in a brief ceremony at the start of the meeting, followed by Erika Long, who was re-elected to her seat in May. Suzanne Grant was traveling in South Africa with her family and will take her oath of office when she returns. Each will serve a three-year term.

Gerken beat Michael Solomon for a seat on the board of education in May, securing 1,803 votes to Solomon's 1,516 votes; Grant and Long were unopposed. 

Following the oath-taking, nominations were accepted for board president and vice-president. Board member Erik Karle nominated Wollin with a brief, but warm, speech.

"This is the fourth time I've nominated Susan as president," he said. "She's navigated some rocky waters and no one else could have done it as smoothly as she has. She's efficient and runs meetings with grace."

The vote was unanimous. Board member Mark Chernis was also returned to his role as vice president of the board. Wollin completes her term on the board in 2012; Chernis' term is up at the end of next year.

The board also reviewed committee assignments for the upcoming year. Board member Graham Andersen will continue to chair the policy committee—which this year spearheaded the implementation of new policies on gifts, grading and bullying. Joining him will be Gerken and Grant.  

The finance committee will be chaired by Chernis, with Andersen and Wollin as members. The audit committee, which is required to exist under state education law, will include Long, Chernis and Andersen.

The board also established a new communications committee to continue the successful outreach efforts begun by the "In Focus" sessions held in the Spring. Grant, Gerken and Wollin will head this up.

Wollin suggested disbanding or putting on hiatus the human resources committee, citing the need to provide the new Director of Human Resources, Denise Gagne, with time to acclimate to her position and the district. In the end, they maintainted the committee, chaired by Long, with the charge of establishing clear goals for the next year.

Gagne's first day was on Thursday.

The board also decided to do an all-call for participation for its citizen advisory committees. For a full list of opportunities for community involvement, including two new committees, curriculum council and the long range steering community, click here. You can download the application here on Patch; it's posted with this article.