Missy Carrell appointed to Cloverdale School Board

Missy Carrell

CLOVERDALE — On the heels of the retirement of Arvel Hinton, the Cloverdale School Board’s vacancy will be filled by someone tied to the school community as a coach.

Following an interview with her Monday as the only applicant to show interest, the board tapped Missy Carrell to represent Jennings Township (Owen County) at a special meeting Thursday evening.

With Supt. Greg Linton and the entire board present, the Monday meeting was more of a leading into the function of the school board. Carrell nonetheless suggested a desire to serve despite having limited knowledge.

A 1990 Cloverdale graduate, Carrell acquired training previously as a police dispatcher in San Diego, Calif. After coming back to Indiana as her husband was discharged from the U.S. Navy, Carrell worked for the Indianapolis Police Department before they finally settled to raise their family.

Carrell has served as Cloverdale’s eighth-grade girls’ volleyball coach. While this was brought up as a concern with paid employees not being on the board, it was agreed that she could remain involved as a volunteer.

Carrell prefaced that she considered running for the seat in question, but missed the deadline to put in for the recent election. Noting that her children graduated from Cloverdale, she said that she should have ran “a long time ago.”

“I have no expectations because I need to be more involved in the process,” Carrell said about coming onto the board. “I’d like to see what goes on, and I would like to be part of the decision-making.”

Board President Vivian Whitaker assured there is learning curve with policies and procedures, and no less with understanding educational dictates the board has to follow. Carrell in turn shared that she has attended meetings in the past when considerations she disagreed with were broached.

“In the first year, you have to see the cycle,” Whitaker said about tackling considerations which are regular, but impact the whole of the corporation’s operations. This includes the budget process and how different funds are managed.

Taking a cue from Board Secretary Donna Fidler, Whitaker, Linton and the rest of the board concurred on expectations outside of these issues. Linton noted the board’s primary responsibilities being setting Cloverdale Schools’ policies and hiring a superintendent.

“One of the most important things to do is to spend some time going through board policy, and becoming more familiar with the policy we use to implement our day-to-day operations,” Linton said.

Apart from meeting regularly, Linton added that the board reviews recommendations and requests by administrators before potentially approving them. This entails discussion of such in executive sessions, during which personnel items may also be addressed.

“There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing, because not one person has all the answers,” Joe Mann added about board members working together. “We’re all friends afterward. Along the way you learn something, too.”

Mann asked Carrell about how she would handle concerns brought up to her personally, to which she replied that she would take them to the board or a principal. Fidler affirmed that this is a protocol to prevent these interactions from becoming regular.

Whitaker outlined that those bringing these concerns should be asked whether they have reached out to teachers or administrators. The ultimate step, she said, would be to bring them to Linton.

“I think it’s important for a board member to be sympathetic,” Linton added. “It’s important for the administrators to know that you are informed in the community, too. You need to also have that responsibility, to be able to communicate with the public that you do know what’s going on.”

In the end, Carrell stated that she had no reservations about serving on the board or its purpose.

“I feel like it’s a learning process, and I’m willing to take that leap to learn more about what goes on here,” she said. “Ultimately, the kids are our main goal here.”