Wilson looks for return to normality in second school board term

Ed Wilson

UPDATED Monday, June 17

When Ed Wilson was first appointed to the Greencastle School Board, an unprecedented situation awaited Wilson and his fellow members.

After the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools for the last two-plus months of the 2019-20 year, administrators and boards nationwide were scrambling to find plans for keeping schools open, better virtual class options and simply keeping kids and staff members healthy.

Set to begin his second term on July 1, Wilson is looking for something a bit more “precedented” in the coming term.

“It’s been kind of a hodgepodge of experiences I’ve had for the last four years,” Wilson said. “I look forward to getting into some normality for the next four years, continuing to look at teacher salaries and looking at education, finishing up our building projects and moving into other building projects on other buildings, start looking at some police officers and getting some law enforcement and security within our schools and heading down that path.”

Wilson was named to his second term by Greencastle Township Trustee Steve Butts on Thursday evening, chosen ahead of local attorney Scott Bieniek, the only other candidate for the job.

When Wilson looks around himself at the July school board meeting, he may not find the most familiar situation. While Madison Township representative Dale Pierce remains in place with nearly 30 years of school board experience, all other members from those tense Covid meetings will be gone.

Megan Inman was named to the board in the spring of 2023, appointed by her fellow members to replace City of Greencastle appointee Russell Harvey after he left for a City Council post. Fellow city appointee Brian Cox will serve his last meeting in that capacity during the June 24 meeting, replaced recently by retired GCSC music teacher Kathryn Dory.

Who will sit in the other Greencastle Township seat remains to be seen, with former board president Mike White’s resignation official on June 15 and the school board yet to pick his replacement for the last three years of a four-year term.

Currently the board vice president, Wilson finds himself in the de facto driver’s seat of the search.

For these reasons and more, he hopes to get back to “normal” school board decisions like teacher pay, construction projects and school safety.

None of these is probably closer to Wilson’s heart than the latter, a veteran Greencastle Police officer who has served as assistant chief since December 2022. Wilson has previously advocated for having a school resource officer in the schools, and this continues to be a goal.

Admitting he has no crystal ball, Wilson believes it is closer to becoming a reality, noting that some new City Council members and Mayor Lynda Dunbar seem favorable to an agreement between the city and the school on the matter.

“It’s just going to be an issue now of getting everybody with like minds in the same room and discussing what we need to move forward with it, finding funding and just working through some logistics,” Wilson said. “I definitely can see that in our future.”

Questioned on the matter during the interview with Butts and advisory board members Mary Jane Monnett, Marilyn Clearwaters and Karen Ambler, Wilson said the plan, for now, is to continue having GPD officers visit school buildings.

“I do everything I can to have our guys in the schools, building a good relationship between the schools and the police department,” Wilson said, noting that it’s a goal to have students build positive relationships with police at a young age.

Speaking on other matters, Wilson noted that he knows students and teachers are glad to have the two-plus year construction project behind them, but also said some other upgrades are probably due for older GCSC buildings such Tzouanakis Intermediate School.

“What we’re really trying to do is get to the point where we’re stable and get ahead of the curve so we’re just not constantly chasing the ball with our buildings and our building projects,” Wilson said.

Asked about the culture within the district, Wilson said there are always matters that need to be addressed, and he was prepared for scrutiny.

“I think folks that are unhappy about things have a right and should voice their opinions about what’s going on,” Wilson said. “However, there are procedures about how that needs to be done. As long as those procedures are followed, we can try to fix those problems.”

The process of choosing an appointed school board has periodically caused local controversy over the years, as GCSC is one of only a few districts in the state without an elected board. Nowhere has this scrutiny been more focused than the Greencastle Township appointments, as previous meetings have been a bit chaotic, with questions about the fairness of the process and the appropriateness of certain questions.

Butts did his best to address this early in the meeting, noting the purpose was just to interview candidates and choose a board member, therefore there would be no public comments.

There were, however, a few objectively awkward moments in the meeting, such as Ambler asking Bieniek where he attended church, then later simply telling Wilson how proud she was of him. Additionally, in a question to Bieniek, who at one point in a couple of years will have five children in Greenastle schools at once, Clearwaters opined that people with children in school should not be on the school board.

For his part, Bieniek took it all in stride.

“I think it’s important for a parent who is in tune with their children’s education to have a say,” Bieniek said, also noting that Dory’s recent appointment as a former educator also brought an important perspective. “I think diversity of thought is important, and it’s very important for parents to have a say.”

Comments after the interviews were about how strong both candidates were, with Butts summarizing “we just got two really good guys.”

All three advisory board members named Wilson, the assistant chief of the Greencastle Police Department, as their top pick, with the trustee agreeing in his decision.

“Edward, you’ve been recommended and appointed to the school board,” Butts said simply.