This most recent USD 232 Board of Education election, Kevin Makalous was elected into the vacant chair left by Tim Blankenship. Makalous takes his chair on July 1 and plans to take the Board of Education in a new direction.

Makalous originally served on the boundary committee which was formed later last year to discuss the boundary changes to deal with the increasingly large population of USD 232. Makalous was inspired to run for office due to what he saw at those meetings.

“After being a part of the boundary committee, I watched interactions between the district staff, board and public that indicated to me we needed to change the tone in the way we communicated amongst each other,” Makalous said.

As a new board member, Makalous has a significant policy change he would like to enact.

“I think one of the things that I’m passionate about is trying to help the district to create a long-term comprehensive vision for what we should look like, for what our over arching goals are, that help guide the district as we make the big decisions over the next five or 10 years,” Makalous said.

One of the benefits to this policy is that patrons would have a definite idea of the goals of the board. While The BOE has a document dedicated to how policies are adopted, there is not a public record of its current fiscal and business policies.

The official document reads: “The Board of Education will adopt goals annually,” but does not provide a clear link to the public what the current goal is.

However, Makalous forsees significant challenges to his plan. In the wake of the resignation of superintendent Doug Sumner, the board unanimously appointed Ron Wimmer into office.

Wimmer served as an interim superintendent previously in USD 232 from 2009 to 2011. One of the challenged Makalous believes he will face is creating a long-term plan with a temporary superintendent.

Although Wimmer’s interests in a long-term plan for the district may not reflect the superintendent selected in 2016, Makalous says he wishes to move fast once he takes office.

“I think we should move as quickly and as expeditiously as possible,” Makalous said.

As far as the board’s opinion toward Makalous taking the chair, they acknowledge that “newly-elected members can bring fresh perspectives to do what is in the best interest of students and families,” said Director of Administrative Services and Communications Alvie Cater.

Makalous plans to make district policies and actions more clear to the public, which is a need expressed by many patrons recently in the wake of scandal and heresy which has been affecting USD 232.