Rapid City School Board appoints new member

From: Rapid City Journal, SD
Nov. 12, 2002

By Andrea J. Cook, Journal Staff Writer

RAPID CITY --The Rapid City School Board selected a new member Tuesday night.

Ronald Fuller, 35, will replace Jeff Haverly as the board's representative in Area 7, which is Rapid Valley.

Haverly must leave the board because he has built a home outside of Area 7.

But state law would have required his resignation in January anyway because he was elected to the state House of Representatives in District 35 on Nov. 5.

The board will also have to replace member Mike Buckingham before he is sworn in as a District 33 state representative in January. He also was elected to the House on Nov. 5. Both Haverly and Buckingham are Republicans.

Fuller, who served nine years in the Air Force, has lived in the Rapid City area since 1995. He was a contracting officer for the Air Force.

He holds an associate degree in electrical technology; a bachelor of science degree in management and human resources and a master's degree in general administration.

Fuller owns Heartland GMAC Real Estate and A+ Snow Removal.

He and his wife Michelle have an 11-month-old daughter, Hannah Abigail.

Fuller was one of three candidates for Haverly's position. The other candidates were former board member Tina Bradley and Harry Iles.

Tuesday night, in a public setting, each of the candidates was asked to answer seven questions relating to their impressions of the Rapid City School District, community involvement in education and the future of education in Rapid City. Each candidate had submitted a written application for the position.

Each board member scored the candidates' responses on a scale of one to five. The candidate with the highest total was selected for the board, President Al Campbell said.

Haverly did not participate in the selection process.

Christina Hamilton, a senior at Stevens High School, addressed the board prior to a vote on expanding an American Sign Language (ASL) program. Hamilton, who is hearing impaired, told the board, through an interpreter, that she spent her freshman and sophomore years at Central where there were no signing students.

"I felt frustrated because nobody could understand me," she said. Last year she transferred to Stevens, where she said she was shocked and amazed to find students who used American Sign Language. A first-year course was begun at Stevens High School.

"It was the most awesome experience," she said.

The board gave American Sign Language full approval as a high school secondary language course, and approved a proposal that will add a second year of the course and expand the offering to Central High School.

Campbell cautioned that the course offering is still subject to approval during the budget process.

Additional curriculum items approved included the kindergarten through 12 math curriculum and a K-12 technology education curriculum.

In one of his final reports to the board, Haverly reported on the most recent meeting of the board's Building Committee. The committee approved soil testing at the new Valley View school site and delegated authority for change orders during the project.

Haverly told the board that because of the scope of the project the committee decided to give Dan Dryden and Robb Schlimgen authority to approve change orders up to $5,000. Dryden is assistant superintendent of business operation. Schlimgen is in charge of buildings and grounds.

Contact reporter Andrea Cook at 394-8423 or e-mail her at andrea.cook@rapidcityjournal.com

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