Advisory board chooses Pierce for school board seat

The Greencastle School Board will lose its most experienced member at month's end. In his place will be a "new" member who also has more than a decade of experience.

Madison Township Trustee Jeff Alexander met with the township advisory board on Thursday, May 30 and chose former board member Dale Pierce over incumbent Mike Dean.

Dean has spent the last 12 years representing Madison Township on the school board.

Pierce and Dean were the only two candidates.

An IBM retiree, Pierce previously spent 17 years on the school board. He also taught building trades for seven years at Area 30 Career Center.

The appointment marks a continuing changing of the guard at Greencastle Community Schools. Vice president Mike White, whose term began in July 2011, is now the longest continuously serving member of the board.

Board secretary Bill Tobin was chosen by fellow board members in February 2012 to fill the remaining 2-1/2 years of Monica Fennell's appointment.

Board members Denise Sigworth and Gary Haussin began serving in July 2012.

Likewise, there has been turnover in GCSC administrators in the last year, with Dawn Puckett becoming superintendent in March, Russ Hesler named Greencastle High School principal in January and Mike McHugh taking the reins at Deer Meadow Primary School for the coming year.

The administration is also set to make a recommendation to hire a new assistant superintendent at the Wednesday, June 12 school board meeting.

The five seats on the school board are appointed by the Greencastle City Council, the Greencastle Township Trustee and the Madison Township Trustee.

Pierce will fill the only Madison Township seat. White and Haussin represent Greencastle Township. Tobin and Sigworth represent the city.

Tobin's term is the next to expire, in June 2014.