Dibble replaces Lynda O’Connor who led the board for the last two years and did not seek a third term as president.
Dibble, who was elected to the first of his two terms to the board in 2010, will be serving as president of the five-member governing body.
The board also again appointed School Board Vice President Todd Parnell by a 5-0 vote to a second year in that role.
Outgoing President O’Connor praised her fellow board members for their support during the last two years and the collective results of the board’s governance.
“We continue to be fiscally sound … and we have broadened our community outreach, particularly to minority families,” said O’Connor. “And the board is communicating with a common voice.”
The publicly elected, five-member board governs Lakota’s 22 schools, which enroll 16,500 students and is Southwest Ohio’s largest suburban school district.
Board leadership will likely play a bigger role this year because its members are scheduled to hire a new superintendent in March who will be the district’s top administrator going into the 2017-2018 school year.
Moreover, Ohio’s proposed biennium budget will soon be released by Gov. John Kasich with a deadline of June 30 for final passage by the Ohio Legislature. The lobbying and contentiousness of budget years often sees school boards more active publicly and privately in trying to persuade state leaders to fund Ohio’s 613 school districts to levels local school officials would prefer.
And the majority of the board – Ray Murray, Ben Dibble and Parnell – will see their four-year terms end on Jan. 1 if they decide against seeking re-election or are defeated in the fall.
In other board action, members unanimously approved new agreements with Beacon Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital’s Liberty Township campus to expand the district’s internship offerings for students interested in bio-medical careers.
“The biomedical pathway has become a point of emphasis in our curriculum because of the exceptionally high demand for skilled employees and its natural connection to core academic areas like math and science,“ said Lakota Acting Superintendent Robb Vogelmann.
The Lakota district of West Chester and Liberty townships encompasses the booming Interstate 75 growth corridor running from northern Greater Cincinnati to the southern Dayton area. Much of the local economic growth in recent years has featured new hospitals and other bio-medical providers and industries.
“We are fortunate to be part of a community that is literally a destination for medical research and patient care. Beacon Orthopaedics and Cincinnati Children’s are both highly-respected names and allow us to give even more students an opportunity to explore this field before they even graduate high school,” said Vogelmann.
In total, more than 50 Lakota juniors and seniors will be selected to participate in one of seven different spring program options ranging from marketing research, small business operations and engineering to specialized biomedical experiences in surgery, therapy, pediatrics and podiatry.
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