'A new day' dawns as BSU appoints Muncie school board

Seth Slabaugh | The Star Press

Show Caption Hide Caption New school board talks to media following selection vote Ball State president calls the appointment of new school board the dawn of "a new day". We managed to speak with officials and the new board after their selection about the new school board and what it means for the Muncie Community.

MUNCIE, Ind. — Ball State University is calling its takeover of Muncie Community Schools the dawn of "a new day," a fresh start that commenced with the appointment on Monday of a newly created seven-member school board.

A new state law called for the university's trustees to appoint five board members recommended by BSU President Geofffrey S. Mearns, who also appointed one member nominated by Mayor Dennis Tyler and another member nominated by Muncie City Council.

The new board supersedes the current five-member elected board, whose authority will be limited to an advisory role. Mearns noted the district has faced declining enrollment, "deteriorated academic performance," a perception that county schools are better, and an inability to bring expenses in line with revenue losses.

The president called the takeover "a new day" for Muncie children and the community, though he bristles at the term "state takeover," preferring to describe what's happening as "legislation that has empowered our community to educate our children."

The president told reporters after the trustees' meeting that for Ball State to assume control of the school district was "entirely consistent with" the university's mission, which includes "community engagement and community service."

The seven new school board members are:

• WaTasha Barnes Griffin, director of the YWCA, an MCS graduate and a parent of MCS students.

• Dave Heeter, CEO of MutualBank and Muncie booster, graduate of MCS and BSU.

• Jim Williams, attorney at DeFur Voran and former judge whose community involvement includes the BY5 early-childhood-education initiative.

• Brittany Bales, special-education instructor at Ball State, a graduate of Southside High School and BSU, a former Muncie school teacher and parent of two Muncie elementary school students.

• Jim Lowe, head of engineering/facilities at Ball State and longtime volunteer at MCS, from which he graduated.

• Keith O'Neal, pastor of Destiny Christian Center International Church and owner of a day care center, attended MCS.

• Mark Ervin, attorney at Beasley & Gilkison and the only non-Muncie resident on the new board. He resides in Selma but graduated from Central High School and served on the Central High School Alumni Board from 2011-17. He has been active at the Ball State Foundation.

The mayor had nominated Bales, along with Jason Donati, a current school board member; and Andre Mitchell, pastor at Deliverance Temple Church.

City council nominated Barnes Griffin, as well as Ana Quirk-Hunter; an attorney and public defender in juvenile court; and Daniel Stallings, a financial adviser and president of the Muncie Public Library Board.

During a news conference, Mearns was asked how the new school board would be better than the old one.

"This is not a comment on whether appointed boards are better than elected boards, but one of the advantages of an appointed board is it enables us to assemble this complementary team," Mearns said. It's a team of "diverse perspectives" and "complementary skills and experiences," he went on.

"There is no way I would ever cast any aspersions on that (old) board," Williams told reporters. "They served well and faithfully. We have the privilege of serving from this point forward and we're going to focus on looking forward, not backward."

Lowe answered, "This is a team. It's made up of different talent and that's what we bring to the table. We all have a different approach and knowledge that can be very helpful to the team."

The board, which takes office July 1, plans to conduct its first meeting soon after a two-day orientation session on July 16-17. Two weeks after that is new teacher orientation at MCS. Classes resume a week after that.

Mearns sees Ball State's role now that a new school board is in place as "lead agent" of the district and supporter of the new board, and as an advocate that organizes resources and brings "our faculty, our staff and our students to mobilize that small army of potential volunteers."

Ball State trustee Tom Bracken's confidence in the future of MCS rose after seeing the huge interest in serving on the school board: 88 candidates applied through Ball State and six others through city hall. He thanked all of them for applying.

"I can't wait to see what you do," trustee R. Wayne Estopinal told the new board members.

"We're making a difference as a board (of trustees), as a university," said trustee Renae Conley, who grew up in Muncie. Her mother was in attendance at the historic meeting. "This is game-changing," Conley said.

VIDEO: BSU Board of Trustees vote in new MCS School Board The full meeting where the Ball State University Board of Trustees vote in the newly created Muncie school board, who will take office this Sunday. The meeting had BSU's president list some of the reasons why each candidate were selected.

Contact Seth Slabaugh at (765) 213-5834 or seths@muncie.gannett.com.