Cloverdale elects two new school board members

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale School Corporation will see even more change come January as the public chose to elect two new school board members Tuesday.

Taking board member Brian Asbury's role will be Cloverdale Township-elect Vivian Whitaker, who earned a total of 436 votes to take the seat, defeating opponents Amanda Galloway (213 votes), Angela Ladd (213 votes) and Tim Powell (423 votes).

Whitaker is a 1968 graduate of Cloverdale High School, as well as current secretary for the Cloverdale Community Dollars for Scholars program. She holds B.S., M.S. and Ed.S. degrees from Indiana State University. She is a retired middle school educator, serving as a teacher, coach, athletic director, assistant principal and principal at West Central Jr.--Sr. High School, Brownsburg Jr. High School, Shelbyville Jr. High School and Batesville Middle School.

Last year, Whitaker also was selected to receive the Ralph "Cy" Seifert National Volunteer of the Year award from Scholarship America, an honor, which Whitaker stated she was thankful to have the opportunity to promote education and help students in Cloverdale and Putnam County further their educational endeavors.

The public also chose to elect 26-year-old Cloverdale native Daniel Hofmann (505 votes), who will take the role of Pamelia Hepfer come Jan. 1. Hofmann defeated opponents Arvel A. Hinton Jr. (415 votes) and Jeffrey A. Gibboney (316 votes).

Hofmann, a Cloverdale High School graduate, received a degree in political studies from IUPUI in Indianapolis going on to earn his J.D. from the Michigan State College of Law.

"I'm very thankful I get to represent Jennings Township as I have lived here the vast majority of my life," Hoffman explained. "I think that I have a lot to add to the school board. I feel that I have a lot of ability and that I am in a really good position to help the community."

Hofman went on to state that over the past few years, he has been very involved with the Cloverdale School Corporation and its students and is looking forward to providing students with a better future.

"Ultimately, it's about serving for me," Hofmann said. "If I can be involved with providing students with a better future in any way, you bet I'm going to be involved. I am going to do my best."

At this time, Hofmann state he does not have any major changes or goals he is hoping to accomplish come January as he is really just trying to be prepared as he can be for his new role.

"This is my first experience with the school board," Hofmann added. "I'm just trying to get prepared and make sure that I can start ready and as prepared as possible."

Current board member Duane Huge was also re-elected to another term as school board member with 785 total votes.

Huge was elected to the Cloverdale School Board in November 2010 and took his position in July of 2011. Since being a board member, Huge has since held a variety of positions, including board president and is currently the board's vice president.

"I just want to be there to assist with the new superintendent (Greg Linton)," Huge said. "I have no real reaction (on being re-elected)."

Whitaker was not able to be reached for comment.