93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
The Columbia Public Schools Board of Education swears in new members and picks a new president during Monday night’s meeting.
One new member is still a student himself. The other is a retiree.
Blake Willoughby joins Della Streaty-Wilhoit as the new voices on the CPS board, after last Tuesday’s vote.
“I think we kind of have a dynamic duo in the sense of her passion about STEM and my passion about the arts and really trying to get that re-invigorated in our schools,” Willoughby says.
Willoughby is a doctoral student at Mizzou. Dr. Streaty-Wilhoit spent decades working for the federal government before retirement.
One big issue for Willoughby is looking at whether the district should use city buses to get some older students to and from class. Willoughby says the state is limiting local control by not allowing that.
“It’s not about ‘Yes, this is the right option’ or ‘No, this isn’t the right option.’ It’s more about let’s just be able to have the conversation.”
Lawmakers in Jefferson City are looking at a bill that would allow school districts to use public transportation in some cases.
Willoughby and Streaty-Wilhoit are replacing the retiring Jan Mees and James Whitt on the Columbia school board. Mees has been the president of the board.
