Serving as a member of any school board can be a thankless and stressful experience.  Add in the fact that your school district has been one of the fastest-growing in the state and now is the 4th largest school corporation in Indiana and the stress level multiplies.

That will create growing pains.  One major pain is the need to redistrict school boundaries.  The Hamilton Southeastern School Board completed that task December 12th and a redrawing of school building boundaries, grades K-8, is ready to implement at the start of the 2019-2020 school year.

There are three school board members that chose not to seek another term on the board in the last election cycle.  Presuming nothing serious arises the remainder of this month (and I hope nothing does) those three men have now cast their final votes as school board members.

John DeLucia has served two terms on the school board, which has spanned a period of about 8 years.  Matt Burke and Terry Tolle each served one 4-year term.

I began covering school board meetings for this blog in January of 2012, so I covered most of Mr. Delucia’s time on the board and all the time Mr. Burke and Mr. Toller served their terms as board members.

I had the chance to observe their work, comments and voting records over the past few years.  Now that their work serving the public has come to an end, I feel it is time for me to say something about their experience on the board.

After covering a number of school boards, I can identify school board members that want to serve the public and make the best decisions for everyone in the district.  I can also identify board members in it for themselves, only interested in their own, personal agendas.

I can say, with no hesitation, that each of these three men worked very hard to serve the public that elected them and wanted nothing more than the best for the parents, children and taxpayers of the Hamilton Southeastern Schools.  You may not agree with every vote they cast, but I can assure you, based on my observations and discussions with each of them, they served this board with the best of intentions and acted that way during their entire tenures on the board of trustees.

We have been very fortunate that outstanding people from within our local community have been willing to step forward and run for a seat on the school board.  John DeLucia, Terry Tolle and Matt Burke should be proud of their service to the public.  Residents of the school district are very lucky to have had outstanding school board members such as these three men.

I will add one other comment.  At the December 12th school board meeting, Terry Tolle said the best decision the board has made in recent years was hiring Allen Bourff as school superintendent.  I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Tolle.

I wish all three the best….they all are accomplished professionals in their respective fields of work outside their school board duties.  I, as someone that attends most school board meetings, will miss all three.

I will also welcome back Michelle Fullhart after her re-election win, as well as three new board members – Brad Boyer, Julie Chambers and Janet Pritchett.  They will all by sworn-in at the first board meeting in January.