Former trustee returns to school board

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
Less than a month after he made a tearful farewell to the Weston County School District No. 1 board of trustees, Tom Wright is back on the board. On Dec. 9, during the school board’s regular meeting, trustees appointed Wright to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of longtime trustee Dean Johnson.
Wright, who had lost his bid for reelection, has served on the board for over 50 years and was 123 votes shy of rejoining the board in November. 
“I served on the board for quite a while. I wanted to continue that and I had told people that during the election. There was nothing that happened after the election to change my mind,” Wright said. “I’m disappointed I didn’t win, but I felt that the opportunity to serve two years, although it was not four, was there and I needed to take it a day at a time.” 
Wright said that he was very happy to interview for the position and that the board selected him. 
“I’m glad I get to continue. I’ve got a lot of time and effort into where we are today as a school system,” Wright said. “I have some plans and ideas about how we can be better, and I appreciate the chance to talk about these and discuss things further with the board.” 
Tina Chick, board chairwoman, said his experience and knowledge were part of the reason Wright was the right choice. 
“First and foremost, there are the very typical things — one, he ran for the board, so he wanted to be on the board. He was the next--highest vote –getter, so the community said they supported him,” Chick said. “Also, we felt like he has proven to be invaluable in terms of his past service and his knowledge about how things run. He has been a good fit on the board, and we felt he would be a continued good fit.” 
Chick said that his knowledge of school finances, in particular, will make a difference as the board faces budgetary shortfalls. 
While Wright was the right fit for the board, according to Chick, she said she had a good candidate pool to choose from. 
“We truly had four great candidates,” Chick said. 
Superintendent Brad LaCroix reported that the board interviewed four candidates in a public forum. The four were Paul Bau, Mary Romine, Sharla Dowding and Tom Wright. Dowding had also unsuccessfully sought a seat on the board in the general election,  
“I can tell you that as superintendent, I’m really not a part of the decision process. But looking at things across the state and nationwide, looking at the number of boards, not just school boards, that don’t have people interested in that type of commitment, we had a strong applicant pool,” LaCroix said. That is pretty satisfying, to know that there are people that would want to do that, that think they can represent themselves and the community well.”