Dorothy Linn was unanimously selected to serve as the president of the Avon Grove School Board during the annual reorganization meeting on Dec. 9.

Linn, who is starting her third year on the board, also served as its president for 2021. She will be leading one of the more experienced school boards in the area.

The board did welcome two new members who won seats in the November election—Ruchira Singh and Mike Woodin. Two other members, Bill Wood and Rick Dumont, were re-elected to four-year terms on the board.

Judge Matthew Seavey, who presides over District Court 15-4-04, was on hand to administer the oath of office to Singh, Woodin, Dumont, and Wood. Once they were officially sworn in, they joined the five other board members who are in the middle of their terms—Linn, Bonnie Wolff, Herman Engel, Jeffrey Billig, and Tracy Lisi.

The next order of business was to select a new board president for the coming year, and Linn was the only nominee. When she was selected to again serve as president, Linn thanked her colleagues.

“Thank you very much,” she said. “I appreciate it.”

Next, the floor was opened for nominations for the position of vice president. Wolff was the only nominee and was unanimously supported for this leadership position.

For the last few years, the Avon Grove School Board has been overseeing the planning and construction of a new high school, which has resulted in many long regular board meetings and long committee-of-the-whole meetings. The board discussed whether there was a way to schedule all the committee meetings so that the board members would have three meeting nights during a normal month, rather than four meeting nights. A lengthy discussion ensued. There was a concern that combining all the committee meetings on one night might result in a marathon session that wouldn’t be beneficial for the public or for board members.

Billig also expressed concerns about the public comment sessions, and whether members of the public would have the best opportunity to share their views before a board decision is made if all the committee meetings take place on the same night. Ultimately, the board decided that public comment sessions would need to be one of the items addressed at an upcoming board retreat. A joint board committee meeting is slated to take place on Jan. 11 as the board begins its work in the new year.