Major Transformation To FWCS Board To Come

Only a few meetings remain until the Fort Wayne Community School Board gets a major transformation.

            Three out of four incumbent board members lost in last week's election.

     Board President Mark GiaQuinta is the only one to return.

            Lisa Olinger will replace incumbent Pamela Martin-Diaz in the other At-Large position. Olinger is the wife of a former board member.

Julia Hollingsworth will take the over District 1 seat. She beat out incumbent Mitch Sheppard.

            And a major shakeup in District 4, attorney Jordan Lebamoff will take over that seat. He beat out incumbent Kevin Brown. You may recall,  Brown got into hot water after his drunk-driving arrest back in September.

FOX Fort Wayne spoke with Olinger and GiaQuinta tonight about the board's changes.

Olinger says the first thing she hopes to get accomplished is to “get a feel for what the board is doing right now."

GiaQuinta say “I got to tell you, the voters vote for lots of different reasons, but we welcome the new members, too. It's sad because these are my friends, but exciting because fresh opinions are always valuable.”

We also spoke with Martin-Diaz and Brown about their defeat. Both hope to continue working in education in some capacity.

I’ll be looking for another way to stay involved in keeping the district moving ahead. It might be in a very personal classroom or small group tutoring” says Diaz.

"I’d like to go investigate some opportunities in Washington, possibly with the Department of Education. I wasn't upset and I wasn't broken-hearted. I think Jordan will make a fine rep for the Fourth District” Brown told FOX Fort Wayne.

Mitch Sheppard declined an interview.

Sheppard, Brown and Martin-Diaz have only two more FWCS board meetings left. New board members will take over in January and serve a four-year-term.