The Allegan school board again has seven members.
At their first meeting of the new academic year on Monday, Sept. 11, school board members appointed Nathon Kelley to the term left vacant by Jeff McLaughlin, who resigned last month because he was moving out of the district.
Kelley moved to the Allegan area with his wife and three children three years ago.
“We bought property here because my wife Katie and I always wanted a hobby farm with some land,” said the Coldwater native. “This was the most reasonably priced land within decent driving distance of Holland.”
Kelley, a registered nurse with a Master of Science in Nursing from Ferris State University, works at Holland Community Hospital as an education facilitator.
A former Hope College instructor, Kelley said he had been a nurse for 10 years and his degree had a focus in education.
“I applied for the school board position because I thought I’d be able to give back to the community and be a positive influence on my children’s school,” he said.
His oldest is Grace, in third grade, and twin boys Josh and Sam in second grade, all at Dawson Elementary School.
Kelley said, “My degree is in education, and I’ve always been interested in serving on the school board; I just never pulled the trigger to sign up for an election. I saw this posted and thought I’d try.”
Kelley’s term expires at the end of 2018.
He was selected from a pool of three applicants interviewed earlier in the evening. The other two were Chris Dulac and Stephanie Klausing.
Board vice president Mary Kasprzyk said after the meeting that all three were excellent candidates.
“I really hope they all consider running for the school board in the future,” Kasprzyk said.
Board members also voted to make board member Lane Sturman board secretary, succeeding McLaughlin in the post.
Contact Ryan Lewis at rmlewis@allegannews.com or (269) 673-5534.
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