Newly elected Mehlville Board of Education members Tom Diehl and Micheal Ocello attended training sessions sponsored by the Missouri School Boards’ Association Friday and Saturday in Springfield.

Diehl and Ocello, the top vote-getters in the April 4 election for two seats on the Mehlville school board, completed their state-mandated training as board members by attending the sessions.

Also running last week were Theresa (Saunders) Kleusch, board Secretary Mike Heins, board Vice President Bill Schornheuser and Mark Counts.

Diehl and Ocello were scheduled to be sworn in Monday night — after the Call went to press.

The MSBA workshops place a strong emphasis on improving student achievement by providing guidance to board members on appropriate ways to evaluate and influence student performance in their local districts, according to an MSBA news release. Other topics covered during the two days were effective board operations, including information on the role of the school board in providing oversight of a school district, an overview of legal issues, techniques for establishing school district policy and the important role the school board plays in establishing district goals.

The curriculum offered during the workshops has been developed by school board members working through the MSBA and is updated frequently, the release stated.

Attendance at the workshops fulfills the state’s requirements for 16 hours of certification training for all newly elected or appointed school board members. The workshops are part of the MSBA’s Certified Board Member Program and are designed to equip local school board members with the skills and knowledge necessary to function as effective education leaders in their communities. Board members at-tend the sessions at no charge.

“I have to give all the credit for attending this session to Mike Ocello,” Diehl told the Call. “It was his idea to go down this weekend and get our training out of the way so that we would be able to get up to speed as quickly as possible.”