School Board vows to end squabbles

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School Board vows to end squabbles

County News

Thursday, 29 November 2012 08:33

Jay Wheeler named chairman

By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer
With two new members, the Osceola County School Board hopes to move past its history of infighting and forward with implementing and upholding policies for education.
For the past two years, recorded fighting among its members has plagued the School Board including scandals that brought unwanted media and public attention to the district.
The board meetings had reportedly become spectacles with members lashing out at each other and the controversies of two former superintendents being forced out of office.
Additionally, email blasts from member Jay Wheeler were made public where he called his colleagues unflattering names, which caused former School Board member Cindy Hartig to sue Wheeler for defamation.

Rather than revisit those issues, newly appointed Vice Chair Barbara Horn said she wants the board to focus on what’s important: the students and education.
Wheeler, who was first elected to district 1 in 2002, was appointed Tuesday as board chair with the support of all members except Tom Long.
Wheeler, too, spoke of his desire to move the district forward.
“As a School Board, we need to bring the focus back to our students’ academic performance,” Wheeler said. “Together, I am confident we can work on issues and programs that are in the best interest of students, such as increasing the number of career and technical certification programs in the district and the use of technology for computer-based assessments and digital learning so our students have every advantage afforded to them.”
Circuit Judge Hal Epperson swore in Kelvin Soto and Tim Weisheyer Tuesday in the board’s meeting room at the Osceola County School District.
Tim Weisheyer, a local real estate agent, beat out incumbent Cindy Hartig during the August primaries to represent District 3, which includes the bulk of Poinciana.
With his wife Pam holding a Bible, Weisheyer took the oath to uphold the duties required of a School Board member.
“I am honored to hold this position,” he said before recognizing his wife, in-laws and other family members for their support of his campaign.
Weisheyer ran on the foundation of transparency and refocusing on education rather than the fighting.
Soto, a local attorney, took 52 percent of the vote against opponent John Ramirez Nov. 6 for the district 2 seat formerly held by Julius Melendez, who lost out on the Republican bid for the district 9 Congressional seat won by Democrat Alan Grayson.
District 2 is comprised of the Buenaventura Lakes area.
Soto said he was “humbled and grateful” to be voted into the seat and thanked his family for their support, singling out his wife Susanna for “getting over her shyness” to campaign on his behalf.
He spoke for 20 minutes on the guiding principles he’d like to see in the district and touched on elements he felt would help make this generation thrive, including implementing foreign language into all elementary schools and investing further in digital infrastructure and education.
Superintendent Melba Luciano welcomed the new board members as representatives of the district.
“We’re so proud of you and so happy to have you,” she said. “There’s nothing like passion and that’s what we are looking forward to with this new board.”
School Board meetings are scheduled for the first and third Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at the School District Administrative Complex, located at 817 Bill Beck Blvd. in Kissimmee.