Upper Adams welcomed new members to the school board Tuesday.
Marya Djalal, Loren Lustig, Tricia Plank, Neil Weigle, and Heather Young-Cover were elected to four-year terms. Kay Hollabaugh, who was appointed to the board earlier this year to fill a vacant seat, was elected to a two-year term. They join Susan Crouse, Jim Lady and Gerald Walmer on the board.
The newly elected members raised their right hands and took the oath of office at the reorganization meeting prior to the regular board meeting Tuesday. Plank was absent.
The board re-elected Lady as president of the board, and selected Lustig as vice president. Walmer will continue as treasurer.
Lady offered words of advice to his new colleagues, outlining three goals.
“Number one, our goal is the kids. That’s why we’re all here, to provide them with the very best education that we possibly can,” Lady said.
The second goal is to provide resources to faculty and administration to achieve goal No. 1, according to Lady. Thirdly, he said the board has a duty to be fiscally responsible to the community.
Lady emphasized the need for the board to work together as a team, regardless of political differences.
Lady appointed committee chairpersons. Djalal will chair the curriculum and extracurricular committee, Weigle will chair athletics, Hollabaugh will chair student activities, Plank will chair business and operations, Young-Cover will chair the property committee, and Lustig will chair transportation.
Walmer will continue as the finance committee chair, and Crouse will lead the policy committee.
Much of Tuesday’s meeting was devoted to onboarding new members. Business Administrator Shelley Hobbs gave an overview of the budget approval process and financial responsibilities of the board.
The board is expected to review the fiscal year 2023 audit at its Jan. 2 meeting and vote whether to approve the audit Jan. 16, according to Hobbs’ timeline. There will be a fiscal year 2024 budget update and fiscal year 2025 status report at the Feb. 6 meeting.
In the new year, the board will continue to hold its regular meetings on the third Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. The curriculum and extracurricular committee and the business and operations committee meetings will continue to be held the first Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. The policy committee will meet the first Thursday of the month at 9 a.m., with the exception of June and July.
The full school board calendar can be found at upperadams.org.
The board’s next regular meeting will be Jan. 16, with committee meetings set for Jan. 2 and 4.
Mary Grace Kauffman, freelance reporter, worked six years as a full-time reporter for newspapers in Pennsylvania and Maryland. She has covered topics including business, crime, education, government and features. Mary Grace has a bachelor's degree in communication/journalism from Shippensburg University. She resides in Adams County.