Martha Geib elected London BOE president

By Jane Beathard

Staff Writer

Martha Geib, M.D., will lead the London City Schools Board of Education in 2012, following the group’s organizational meeting on Tuesday.

Geib was elected board president for the year, while Marv Homan was elected vice president.

Board treasurer Christine Blind administered the oath of office to returning members Curtis Brooks and Homan, as well as new member Jonathan Stahl.

Routine committee assignments consumed much of Tuesday’s agenda. Stahl was appointed to board positions on the London Community Foundation and the Central Madison Joint Recreation District. Along with Brooks, he will also act as liaison to London Academy.

Brooks will continue as liaison to Tolles Career & Technical Center. Homan will represent the board on the Tax Abatement Committee. Melissa Canney will serve as representative to the London City Schools Foundation Board and the city’s business advisory council. Geib will handle communication and public relations. Brooks will continue as liaison to the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA) Central Region Chapter.

Geib volunteered to fill a newly created position as legislative liaison, in compliance with a recommendation of the OSBA.

Regular 2012 meetings were scheduled for 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month. Dates are: Feb. 14, March 13, April 10, May 8, June 26, July 10, Aug. 14, Sept. 11, Oct. 9, Nov. 13 and Dec. 11.

Also on Tuesday, school board members tabled a recommendation to open and staff a new pre-school unit for special needs students.

Interim Superintendent Tom Ben said the district anticipates increased enrollment of children with disabilities in coming months. But, current vacancies in the pre-school program make additional staffing and classroom space unnecessary.

“We will revisit this at a later time,” Ben said.

Ben also said administrators are looking into policies and procedures for handling incidents of student “bullying.” He will present additional recommendations at the Feb. 14 meeting for handling cases of “bullying.”

Blind said the district is starting to see a financial benefit from last year’s layoffs and retirements. She anticipates a savings of nearly $200,000 in payments to the state teacher’s retirement system between January and June as a result of professional staff reductions.