NASBE Membership Elects New Leaders to Its Board of Directors

Alexandria, Va. — The National Association of State Boards of Education is pleased to announce the election of five new members to its board of directors during its Annual Conference last month in Denver. Rachel Wise, a member of the Nebraska State Board of Education, became NASBE’s chair of the board at the close of the conference. Brooke Axiotis, president of the Iowa State Board of Education, was voted NASBE’s chair-elect and begins her term on the board immediately. She will begin to serve as chair of NASBE’s board at the close of its 2019 Annual Conference. The membership also elected regional officers, each serving two-year terms.

Newly elected to the board for two-year terms were the following:

  • Karen Williams, District of Columbia, (Northeastern Region)
  • Stephanie Bell, Alabama (reelected to the Southern Region)
  • Vic Lenz, Missouri (reelected to the Central Region)
  • Janet Cannon, Utah (Western Region)
  • Jason Dean, Mississippi (New State Board Member Representative)
  • Todd Allen, Kentucky (NCOSEA Representative, serving one year)

This group will join the following board members who are returning for their second year:

  • John Kelly, Mississippi (serving as immediate past chair)
  • Byron Ernest, Indiana (serving as secretary-treasurer)
  • Estela López, Connecticut (Northeastern Region)
  • Kevin Boyd, Georgia (Southern Region)
  • Lupe Ramos-Montigny, Michigan (Central Region)
  • Angelika Schroeder, Colorado (Western Region)
  • Ronald McNinch, Guam (New State Board Member Representative)
  • John-Paul Hayworth, District of Columbia (NCSBEE Representative)

 “Our new strategic plan is focused on empowering state boards to fully embrace their role as citizen leaders while continuing to offer combined decades of expertise to meet boards’ ongoing needs and ensuring sustainability,” says NASBE President and CEO Kristen Amundson. “Members of NASBE’s board of directors will lead our organization in this important work.”

For 60 years, NASBE has served as the only membership organization for state boards of education. A nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, NASBE elevates state board members’ voices in national and state policymaking, facilitates the exchange of informed ideas, and supports members in advancing equity and excellence in public education for students of all races, genders, and circumstances. Learn more at www.nasbe.org.

Featured

  • Architectural Power for the Modern Campus Landscape

    For generations, an outdoor classroom only required a textbook and a patch of grass. Today, not only has the laptop replaced the printed pages, the rise of agile learning has turned campuses into study halls with students listening to lectures and researching topics from quads, gardens, and plazas. The challenge for architects and facility managers is to provide connectivity without cluttering the landscape with visual eyesores or creating safety hazards with extension cords.

  • Colorado School District Breaks Ground on Unified PK–12 Campus

    The Haxtun School District No. Re-2J in Haxtun, Colo., recently announced that ground has been broken on a renovation/addition project that will unite its two schools, Haxtun Elementary and Haxtun Jr/Sr High School, according to a news release.

  • Q&A: How to Prevent Kitchen Grease Fires in Commercial Kitchens

    School cafeterias and university dining halls serve thousands of meals daily, relying on high-heat equipment like fryers, grills, and ovens. While these operations keep students fed, they also generate significant grease-laden vapors. Without proper controls, this grease becomes a silent fire threat. As a certified exhaust cleaning specialist and business coach who has helped hundreds of institutional facilities achieve NFPA 96 compliance, I emphasize that proactive grease management isn’t optional; it’s a core fire/life safety practice.

  • Montclair State University Starts Construction on $120M STEM Building

    Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J., recently broke ground on a new $120-million Interdisciplinary Science Building, according to university news. The university partnered with HoK Architects for the project’s design, and it’s scheduled to open in time for the 2028–29 academic year.