TRAVERSE CITY -- Since their election, incoming Traverse City school board members Julie Puckett and Kelly Hall have visited nearly every building in the district.
As a pair, they attended meetings and discussed school finances and operations -- anything to learn the system they will oversee for the next four years.
Their election Nov. 3 altered the composition of the seven-member board, which will include five women and two men when Puckett, 40, and Hall, 41, take office in January.
They will replace outgoing members Dave Barr and Suzann Brooke.
"I considered myself pretty informed, and there's a lot out there I didn't know," Puckett said. "What we're finding is every building is different. Every building has its own culture."
Their presence almost certainly will change the way the board functions, as often happens when new perspectives are added to an existing entity.
Both board incarnations care about the district's students and parents, a fact that remains consistent regardless of who sits at the table, Puckett said.
Even so, she said, "There might be a shift in sort of ideology, how we think about education, what we think is important."
Puckett is an adjunct math instructor at Northwestern Michigan College. Hall is a former Consumers Energy attorney who works for her husband's dental clinic. Both have children in the district.
They each listed the budget and pending cuts as the most pressing issues they will tackle next year. They also will need to negotiate contracts with multiple employee unions, as well as Superintendent James Feil.
"We're going to have an energetic, cohesive board," Hall said. "We're facing an extremely difficult year. I won't try to sugarcoat it."
She wants the district to continue advocating for equitable school funding at the state level, and to improve trust between administrators, staff and parents.
"Traverse City is not isolated from the stresses public schools are going through," Hall said. "We can't keep cutting and cutting and expect our kids to be global citizens."
It most likely will take time for both Puckett and Hall to become acquainted to their board roles, President Fred Tank said, and existing members need to create an environment that isn't hostile or intimidating to new views.
He said it took him close to a year before he was fully knowledgeable.
"I think that's probably a common experience," Tank said. "Everybody brings a point of view and a disposition."
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