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The newly constituted District 208 Board of Education on Tuesday night selected Jim Marciniak president of the school board and later in the night the school board hired David Bonnette as interim superintendent effective July 1.
The actions came after the three winners in the April 7 election, Dan Moon, Matt Sinde and Mike Welch were sworn in. Both Marciniak and MariAnn Leibrandt were nominated for the president’s chair at the board table.
Larry Herbst, who has served as board president for the past six years and is the most senior member of the school board, was not nominated for the post.
Board member Sue Kleinmeyer nominated Leibrandt for president and Moon nominated Marciniak. The board first voted on Leibrandt, but she received only two votes. When the roll was called on Leibrandt’s nomination the first four members voting – Moon, Sinde and Welch and Marciniak – all voted no, assuring that Leibrandt would not get the post.
Kleinmeyer and Leibrandt then voted yes and Herbst, casting the final vote, voted present.
Marciniak then was unanimously elected board president.
“Sure, I’m disappointed,” Leibrandt said after the meeting. “But, you know what I think? We had more than one qualified candidate and at this time. The rest of the board chose Jim, and we move forward and work together, and I think that’s fine.”
Herbst said he had no problem losing the post of board president.
“Whatever role I play I’m fine with,” Herbst said. “I will say that Jim is probably the best choice for this board at this time.”
Kleinmeyer was selected to continue as vice president of the board, with Marciniak casting the deciding vote in her favor after both she and Sinde were nominated for the post. Moon, Welch and Sinde voted for Sinde, while Marciniak sided with Leibrandt, Herbst, and Kleinmeyer in voting for Kleinmeyer.