Comeau picked to fill school board vacancy
Tracy Comeau was selected Tuesday night to fill a vacancy on the Libby School Board.
Comeau was chosen by a unanimous vote of the board over Dennie Yeager and Jeff Forster, who had also applied for the opening. Comeau owns H & R Block franchises in Libby and Bonners Ferry and has three children in the school district. She said she believes her business background could benefit the district.
Comeau ran an unsuccessful campaign for the board in 2006.
The vacancy was created when board member Melanie Wood resigned earlier this month. Wood, who served on the board for nine years, stepped down to avoid conflict with her son-in-law Scott Beagle's application for a position as principal at Asa Wood Elementary School. Principal Ken Foss will retire at the end of the school year.
Comeau's appointment will run until the school election on May 8, when the remaining two years on the term will be filled. Two other full three-year positions will also be filled. Those positions are currently held by Jerry Frament and Jim England.
Candidates for the school board seats can obtain nomination petition forms at the school administration business office at 724 Louisiana Ave. The deadline for submitting petitions is 3 p.m. Thursday, March 29.
In other business, the board:
l Accepted the resignation of middle school counselor Marjorie Kroeger. Kroeger is retiring effective June 8.
l Approved one-year leadership team contracts for special services director John Kratofil, curriculum and grants director Jael Prezeau, high school principal Rik Rewerts, middle school principal Ron Goodman, middle school assistant principal Keith Ivers, and high school assistant principal Jim Germany.
l Approved certified staff contracts with Rod Tempel for special education and Barb Sears as temporary elementary teacher and with Margee Wilson as middle school health enhancement teacher for the remainder of the school year.
l Approved activities contracts with Diane Rewerts, Brenda Swanson, Julie Wedel, Leslie Crooks, Pam Haas and Chrys Marchant for the middle school play and Phil Spencer for Tae Kwan Do.
l Approved a five-year transportation contract with Harlow's Bus Service.
l Heard that an architectural consultant has advised the district that it should be able to make necessary repairs to the high school gym roof in-house rather than hiring an outside contractor to do the work.
l Received a presentation from teachers Gene Reckin and Jeff Gruber on a recent trip to Minamata, Japan. Libby is working on developing a "sister school" relationship with a school in Minamata. Minamata is the site of industrial mercury contamination which has parallels with the asbestos contamination left behind in Libby by years of vermiculite mining and processing.