Staff Report

Two new members of the Mehlville Board of Education recently took their oaths of office along with veteran board member Cindy Christopher, who started her third term on the board.

Christopher, Karl Frank Jr. and Ken Leach were elected April 5 and sworn in at a special meeting April 11.

Board Secretary Marea Kluth-Hoppe, who was seeking a second three-year term in the April 5 election, was defeated, while board Vice President Matthew Chellis did not seek a third term.

During the reorganization meeting, board members voted 6-1 to elect Rita Diekemper as president. Frank was opposed.

Board member Mike Heins initially nominated Christopher, who had served as board president the past two years, to serve a third one-year term as board president, but Christopher declined.

“… That being the case, I’d like to nominate Rita Diekemper for president of the board,” Heins said.

Frank nominated board member Bill Schornheuser for president.

“Unfortunately, I will decline at this time,” Schornheuser said.

After the vote naming her president, Die-kemper said, “Thank you very much and I’m honored by the privilege and I promise you I will work my best to do all that is expected of me by the citizens, fellow board members, administrators, other em-ployees and the students of the school district.”

Heins then nominated for Schornheuser for vice president and Schornheuser was elected unanimously to the post.

“This one I’ve got a little bit more time for,” Schornheuser said of the vice president’s post.

Board member Tom Correnti then nominated Heins for secretary and Heins was elected to the post with a 6-1 vote. Frank was opposed.

In other business, the Board of Educa-tion voted unanimously in closed session April 11 to extend the contracts of four Central Office administrators, according to information obtained by the Call under the provisions of the state’s Open Meet-ings and Record Law, also called the Sun-shine Law.

While Frank and Leach were present in the closed session, which took place be-fore the reorganization meeting, they did not vote as they had not yet taken their oaths of office.

Board members voting in the closed session were Christopher, Chellis, Kluth-Hoppe, Correnti, Diekemper, Heins and Schornheuser.

The two-year contracts of the following Central Office administrators were ex-tended for an additional year from July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007:

• Connie Hurst-Bayless, assistant superintendent for curriculum.

• Keith Klusmeyer, south area superintendent.

• Cynthia Lynch, assistant superintendent for student services.

• A.D. McClain, assistant superintendent for human resources.

Board members also voted unanimously to approve one-year contracts for the 2005-2006 school year for elementary principals and assistant principals, middle school principals and assistant principals, high school principals and assistant principals, certified directors and classified di-rectors and assistant directors.

The Board of Education previously had voted in closed session to extend Superin-tendent Tim Ricker’s contract for another year, according to information obtained by the Call under the Sunshine Law.

Board members voted unanimously March 9 to approve Ricker’s contract for one more year, extending it from July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2008. The motion to extend Ricker’s contract was made by Heins and seconded by Chellis.