Kathleen Hootman, a Pine Township resident, has been appointed to the Conneaut School Board of Directors, the appointment coming when school directors met in a combined July work session and regular board meeting Wednesday evening at Linesville High School.

She will fill the Voting Region 1 vacancy created by the June resignation of Cheryl Krachkowski, who had served about two years, appointed when Lee Livingston moved from the district. Krachkowski had moved from Region 1 to Voting Region 2 and could no longer retain the Region 1 seat.

Two people applied for the appointment - Hootman and Brian Boyce of Beaver Township.

Voting Region 1 is made up of Linesville borough and the townships of Beaver, Conneaut, North Shenango, Pine, and West Fallowfield.

Voting Region 2 is made up of Conneautville and Springboro boroughs and the townships of Spring, Summerhill, and Summit.

Students from Beaver attend Conneaut Valley Schools and students from Summit attend Linesville High School, thus voting regions do not conform to school boundaries due to the one man, one vote rules.

The voting regions have been the same since the Conneaut School District was formed in 1971 with population figures looked at after every 10 year census in accordance with the one man, one vote rule. Variations are allowed but must conform to standards.

Hootman and Boyce were interviewed by the remaining board members on June 27.

Both names were entered into nomination on a motion by David Schaef. Hootman was elected on a 5-2 vote with Boyce receiving votes from Dr. Carol Bocan and Lorri Drumm. Hootman received support from Dr. Walter Thomas, Rick Kelly, Don Ellis, Jr., Jody Sperry and Schaef. Gina McCauley was absent from the meeting.

Hootman has a daughter attending Linesville High school. She has lived in Pine Township for four years, has a Master's degree in education and is a certified elementary teacher with 23 years of experience. She is working on obtaining a guidance degree.

She is married. Her husband, Dan, is a former Pine Township supervisor and a retired teacher.

During her interview, Hootman said one of the biggest issues facing the school district is budget as she noted the state has cut educational funding.

During the meeting, it was decided to expand the committees looking at the future of the district - Better Utilization of School Space [BUSS], to 9 persons from the public - 3 from each attendance area- instead of 2 per area and also to have just one person from a family be on the committees to give more people an opportunity to serve.

Four committees are being formed and will begin meeting in the next couple of weeks.

Budget, transportation, facilities, and curriculum are the four committees being formed to make recommendations as the district deals with reduced funding and declining enrolments among other issues.

Assistant superintendent of schools Jarrin Sperry was appointed substitute superintendent to fill in for Wendy Szally, current superintendent, seeking disability retirement due to health reasons.