Wilson selected as District 117’s newest board member

By Gary Scott on December 2, 2016 at 9:24am

Jacksonville School District 117 added its second new board member in the past month at last night’s special meeting.

Several weeks ago, board members appointed Jan Ryan to fill the vacancy left by Cheryl Ballard’s resignation. Shortly after Ryan stepped into her new role, the board was faced with another vacancy with the resignation of Libby White.

Using the same pool of candidates who’d applied for the previous vacancy, the board selected Teresa Wilson of Murrayville. Board President Noel Beard explains how they came to the decision.

“All of the candidates were really well qualified, but what stood out and set Teresa apart is she has a long community service resume, volunteering with various organizations in the Jacksonville and Murrayville area. She also has a business finance background and we thought her involvement in the community was great, and the finance, business end would bring a good perspective to the board,” says Beard.

Although they’ve added two new faces, Beard believes the board will continue to be cohesive moving forward.

“I do see us working really well moving forward, even with the two new board members. I think they bring a different perspective to the board, or at least have the opportunity to bring that different perspective, but I think they still will fit well with the board and work well with the existing members,” Beard says.

As the board’s newest members, both Wilson and Ryan will serve out the remainder of their respective terms until the April 2017 election.