Mercer County Public Schools board elects Deborah Akers president, names Sean Vest vice president and sets meeting schedule

The Mercer County Public Schools Board of Education elected Deborah Akers as board president during its organizational meeting and appointed Sean Vest as vice president.

The chair opened nominations for president and, after votes were cast, declared "Dr. Akers, congratulations. You're the president of the board. You have the gavel," before handing leadership to Akers. Two members, Paul Hodges and Mr. Bailey, were recorded as voting nay during the president tally; one member later said they had not meant to vote nay. The chair proceeded to the vice president election, where the board appointed Sean Vest by voice vote.

The board also voted to set its regular meeting times as the second and fourth Monday of each month at 6:00 p.m. A motion to adopt that schedule passed by voice vote.

Members approved several committee assignments. Keith Gano was appointed to represent the board on the West Virginia Extension Services Committee, Sean Vest was appointed to the Southern Educational Service Committee (SCSC) advisory board, and Paul Hodges was confirmed to continue serving on the community criminal justice board.

During a governance discussion, a board member asked that two recurring agenda items be added to future regular meetings beginning July 13: a "Submission of information/reports" item to allow requests for information or reports to be submitted for the next regular meeting, and a "Board member round table" to allow members to recognize people or programs and make announcements. The staff member present was asked to place those items on future agendas.

No formal policy decisions or budget actions were taken; the meeting focused on officer selection, schedule setting and committee appointments. The meeting was then adjourned.