After a school board meeting that took place Monday night, the active members of the school board selected their two newest members, Misty Gossen and Levi Jones.
The school board had only three active members prior to Monday night after the former president, Dale Selman, and former member, David Thain resigned last month.
As of now, Mike Reimer resides as president of the board, Nocona Cook as vice-president, Jeff Jaronek as clerk, and Gossen and Jones as members.
Gossen was appointed to seat No. 2 of the school board, a seat previously taken by Thain, and Jones was appointed to seat No. 4 of the board, a seat previously taken by Selman. In total, the board received three applications for the vacant seats.
Both Gossen and Jones will hold the office until April of 2022 after which they will be able to run in the general election to be elected.
Gossen, who is a graduate of Cordell High School and currently has children here in Cordell Schools, said she is very excited to be on the board.
“I just feel it's an opportunity to be able to serve the community and the school that I love,” she said. “I think that children's futures are a priority and I feel like maybe I can be an asset to that… I hope to be a good representation of what our community means. That our children's future is the priority. We'll make our driving decisions to execute them in the best interest of the school.”
Jones had previously run for seat No. 1 during the April 6 election earlier this year and faced off against Jaronek. Jones did not reach back to us in time for a comment in this publication.
When speaking to the Cordell Beacon back in March before the election, Jones stated, “I care about our town and our school. I will bring a fair and honest opinion and do what I believe is in the best interests of all involved.”
Board members along with Superintendent Brad Overton were unable to comment as to why both Selman and Thain had resigned from the board last month.
However, in speaking with Selman, when asked why he resigned he said he believed schools were “outdated” and that “until we get some new thinking at the top of the schools” he didn’t expect to see much change being made.
“I wanted things to go a different direction. It's not that I don't see them headed the right way. I see them headed the same way they've been headed, and you guys can decide whether that's the right way. I think that as the school goes, so goes the community,” Selman said.
“I think that we need to quit teaching kids the way that I was taught. We need to start teaching kids the way that our kids need to be taught and the way that our grandkids need to be taught… There's a lot of kids that are getting left behind because they don't understand stuff on a piece of paper. It's hard to get it through that way.”
Selman also commented about the issues happening around the time that he both joined and left the school board.
“I thought a lot about what I might say, and I’ll say this. When I came on the board, it was over a basketball coach. And when I left the board, it was over a basketball coach. I mean, that's a pity for our community,“ Selman said.
Ultimately, Selman said he has no personal problems with anyone at the school and that his resignation was a decision that he had thought of for some time.
“I think those guys [on the board] are good. They’re on for the right reasons, and they're watching closely,” Selman said. “Right now everybody seems to be watching, you know? I'm getting calls from every body. And so, as long as everybody's watching, everything's going to be fine.”
Thain did not reach back to us in time for this publication, however, Selman said he had asked Thain to resign.
“There was a lot of people that were pretty dissatisfied with him being on the board after his kid moved to another school and I kinda got it,” Selman said.
“David's a good old friend of mine, you know? I didn't want to say anything, but that was kind of part of the ultimatum. I think that that was one of the changes that needed to be made.”
As for Gossen and Jones, they are now officially serving as active members of the Cordell School Board.
“I look forward to working with Misty Gossen and Levi Jones as board members,” Superintendent Overton said. “I know that both of them have the best interest of our students in mind, I believe they will be an asset to our school system.”