Mars board members take office
Newly elected school board members Jennifer DiCuccio, Justin Miller, Lee Ann Riner and Nicole Thurner all officially took office at a Mars Area School District reorganization meeting Tuesday night.
John Kennedy was reelected as school board president for one year. Sallie Wick was nominated and elected as school board vice president, and Anthony DePretis was nominated and elected as school board treasurer.
Newly elected Justin Miller will serve as the district's representative to the Butler County Vocational-Technical School Joint Operating Committee. Returning board member Kevin Hagen and newly elected Lee Ann Riner will serve on the board of the Mars Planet Foundation.Superintendent Mark Gross welcomed the new board members and said that he looked forward to working with them moving ahead into 2022.
The board members each responded in similar fashion.“I am really looking forward to working with everybody in a collaborative fashion,” Thurner said. “Thank you to everybody for being so gracious and welcoming to the new members.”Miller said he appreciated the welcome, and DiCuccio specifically thanked Dr. Gross and Debbie Brandstetter for helping in the transition.“I just wanted to say thanks to everybody here. You made everybody feel welcome,” Miller said. “I look forward to working with everybody for the next four years.”
Riner noted intentions to remain involved with the parent teacher organization through the end of the year, and offered special thanks to parents.“I would like to thank my family, my friends and the community for their overwhelming support. I look forward to this new role,” said Riner. “I would like to thank the parents — without them it couldn't be possible.”
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth McMahon provided an update on the continuation of the after-school reading and math programs funded by state Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding.“Based on the popular response and how successful it has been, we are going to continue with those extended academics after school,” McMahon said.The programs, consisting of the “Reading Rockets” program at the elementary school level, the “Comet Club” math and reading program at the middle school level, and the math tutoring program at the high school level, were supported by state ESSER funding to combat learning loss.
