The Perry County District No. 32 Board of Education underwent plenty of change in its latest meeting April 13. Three board members were sworn in after being elected during the Perry County municipal election on April 5.
Rich Dix and Dominic Blythe won three-year terms, while Melissa Hahn earned a one-year term that ends in 2023. Dix was an incumbent, while Blythe replaces Mary Bauwens who served on the board since 2016. Hahn replaced Casey Brewer who served on the board since July 2021 after the resignation of board member Ashley Geringer.
Superintendent Andy Comstock had kind words for Brewer.
“A school board member is a very underappreciated job. You don’t get paid and you have to put up with me on many things,” Comstock said. “Even though your tenure was short, we were blessed to have you.”
Comstock nearly teared up when talking about Bauwens, who served on the board as the Vice President.
“Mary started at the same time that I did,” Comstock said. “She has been right there along side me on many tough decisions,” Comstock said. “She served on this board well and I’m going to miss her. She was someone that could keep me on the right path.”
With two new board members, also came with it board restructuring, especially at the top.
Nancy Voelker replaced Robinson as president by a 4-3 vote, while Robinson moved over one chair to vice president.
Dodi Thieret remained the board secretary, and Lacey O’Keefe remained as board treasurer. Robinson will also serve as the board’s delegate to different conventions, while Voelker will serve as that alternate.
After all that change, the board learned that part of the district will return to normal. Perryville High School Principal Jeff Steffens presented the plan for the graduation ceremony. The event will take place at the Perry Park Center at 7 p.m. on May 20. It will be open to the public once again, after being limited to just family members the last two years.
“It is nice to return to a sense of normalcy,” Voelker said of the decision.
Steffens will serve as the faculty commencement speaker, while there will be a vote of two cum laude students to see who will be the student representatives. The district went away from the valedictorian and salutatorian system this year.
Dan Querry discussed with the board a possible change in the district’s phone and intercom system. Querry was hoping to upgrade the outdated system once the district contract is up with its current provider.
“Our phone system is lacking some pretty basic features,” Querry said. “If this new system we should save money and get more things. One feature is that the staff should be able to be anywhere and make calls from the system.”
In his superintendent’s report, Comstock noted that usually there is a part of the meeting that is used to discuss the district’s COVID-19 data, but there were recordable numbers to report on for this month (zero active cases).
The meeting began by recognizing the Perryville High School Student Council, which recently earned the Gold Honor Award. The 40-member council earned the honor for its involvement at the local level, in the District Student Council, and involvement at the state level. Only 54 Missouri high school student councils met the criteria for this award.
The next meeting will be held on May 11
