Danville school board members say goodbye

Published 6:12 pm Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Monday night was the last Danville Board of Education meeting for the school board’s top two members. Chair Paige Matthews and Vice Chair Susan Matherly will both move off the board at the end of this month, after they did not seek re-election in November’s general election.

“It really has been an honor to serve my school district and I just really appreciate the chance to work with so many different people,” Matthews said. “I know that the board will be in good hands moving forward and I look forward to seeing progress continue.”

Matherly said the board has “accomplished a lot of things” while she has been serving as a member, including the completion of an addition at Toliver Intermediate School and the beginnings of renovation work at the Hogsett Primary School building, anticipated to be done in time for the 2019-20 school year.

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“I look forward to seeing the end product there,” she said. “I think we’ve made a lot of great strides for our system and I think we’re moving in a great direction, so I look forward to years in the future to see where we are.

“I think Danville School District has a lot to offer, a lot of positive things going on. I don’t even want to start trying to list them because I know I’ll leave something out. I just wanted to say, ‘Thank you’ and ‘Go Ads!'”

McDonald thanked Matthews and Matherly for their service during superintendent comments at Monday night’s meeting and presented them both with goodbye gifts “in appreciation of the service and all the time and dedication you put into the school system.”

During Matthews’ and Matherly’s times on the board, they helped oversee a reorganization of the district’s three elementary schools into a primary school for preschool through first grade and an intermediate school for second through fifth grades. Matthews and Matherly also cast two of the three votes not to renew former Superintendent Keith Look’s contract last winter.

The controversial vote led to criticism from a large group of school community members who believed the board may have discussed the move outside of a public meeting and didn’t adequately explain why it was removing Look. A superintendent search led to the hiring of McDonald over the summer.

The Danville Board of Education has five seats, three of which were up for election this year. Paul Smiley, incumbent Steve Becker and Glenn Ball won the Nov. 6 election. Lori Finke and Troy McCowan are the other two members.