WJCC Board Seats Shuffle for New Year

By Amber Lester Kennedy Thursday, December 08, 2011

Several seats on the Williamsburg-James City County School Board will shuffle before the board next meets in January.

At Tuesday’s work session, Vice Chair Ruth Larson announced her intent to step down as the Jamestown District representative when she takes the oath of office as the new Berkeley District representative. From the date of her official resignation, the board will have 45 days to appoint a new representative for the Jamestown District; they have not yet announced the application process.

Jim Kelly, who has served as the Berkeley representative but now lives in the redrawn Jamestown district, is eligible to apply for Larson’s former seat. If he does, tt will be the second time he has had to go through the application process; he was originally appointed in January 2010 to fill a seat vacated by Mary Ann Maimone. He then had to be elected to the seat that fall. Tuesday was his last meeting as Berkeley District representative.

It was also the last meeting for Denise Koch, who chose not to run for a third term as the Roberts District representative. Heather Cordasco will fill her seat in January. Koch said she always intended to only serve for eight years, because she strongly believes “leadership shouldn’t be static.” She said she’s excited to see what the future holds for the division and that the only way the school division will ever achieve its goals is if everyone focuses on the needs of the students.

Her fellow board members praised her work ethic and devotion to service, sharing anecdotes about how she had helped them on the board. Joe Fuentes recounted how, at a board retreat last year, she worked with former member John Alewynse to craft an initial version of what became the WJCC’s vision statement. It was in that vision statement that the board first articulated a goal to become the “premier” district, and Fuentes gave her credit for helping to focus their ideas.

Williamsburg representative Elise Emanuel’s term also ends this month, but she has reapplied for appointment to the board. At a public hearing before City Council, several citizens endorsed her for the seat. Council will make an appointment to the School Board at today’s meeting, starting at 2 p.m. in the Stryker Building.