Schrodt, Fox sworn in as new school board members

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Two new faces and one familiar one were sworn in as school board members at Monday’s meeting of the Charles City School District Board of Directors.

Board Secretary Evan Marten administered the oath of office to newly-elected David Schrodt and Kathryn Fox, as well as incumbent Josh Mack on Monday. The three received the top three most votes out of six candidates running in the election held earlier this month.

All school board seats are at-large, for terms of four years. Directors Scott Dight and Missy Freund chose not to run for re-election. Dight had served over 20 years on the school board while Freund had served the last four.

Mack is the North Iowa Area Community College chief information officer. He has been on the Charles City School Board for four years and been president for two years, and served on the Telecom committee for the city for two years.

Schrodt is a physician at the Floyd County Medical Center while Fox is employed as a background investigator, and previously served for four years as the high school counselor at Mount Vernon High School in Mount Vernon.

The three will join retired teacher Janiece Bergland and retired school counselor Pat Rottinghaus on the school board.

Rottinghaus was sworn in as the board’s new president, replacing Mack at that position. The president chairs the meetings and holds the position for one year. The board voted 4-1 for Rottinghaus, who was nominated by Mack. Schrodt, who nominated himself for the position, voted for himself.

Fox was nominated by Rottinghaus to serve as the board’s vice-president, and the board voted her to the position unanimously.

In other business on Monday, the board heard an update from staff and faculty at the new Innovative Campus regarding its progress.

Additionally, activities director Tom Harskamp and students on the football, volleyball and cross country teams addressed the board in regard to fall athletic activities. Harskamp said that more than 35% of students at the high school level participate in athletics, as do nearly half of the students at the middle school.

The board also recognized senior student Mario Hoefer for upholding the district’s mission and vision on the football field. Hoefer told the board about his recent trip to St Louis, where he received a Musial Award. The Musial Awards are a national annual celebration of the year’s greatest moments of sportsmanship.

Also on Monday, the board approved the resignation of Jill Heeren, special education teacher at Washington Elementary, effective Nov. 29.