Ohio School Boards Association

8050 North High Street • Suite 100 • Columbus OH 43235-6481

(614) 540-4000 • fax (614) 540-4100 • www.ohioschoolboards.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: Oct. 29, 2013

Contact: Crystal Davis

deputy director of

communication services

(614) 540-4000

Release and photo of Bennett

available electronically at:

http://links.ohioschoolboards.org/52609

Local school board member earns prestigious statewide honor

COLUMBUS — A Knox County school board member is among five people in the state selected to receive the Ohio School Boards Association’s (OSBA) most prestigious honor.

Dr. Marguerite M. Bennett, a board member with Mount Vernon City Schools and Knox County Career Center, will be recognized as a 2013 All-Ohio School Board member on Nov. 13 during the OSBA Capital Conference and Trade Show in Columbus. OSBA Executive Director Richard Lewis will recognize All-Ohio School Board members on the final day of the 58th annual conference, a four-day convention attended by nearly 10,000 Ohio school board members and school leaders.

Every year, OSBA names one board of education member from each of its five regions — Central, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest — to the All-Ohio School Board. The award recognizes outstanding service to public education and represents the dedication shown by thousands of board members across the state.

All-Ohio School Board candidates are nominated by their respective school boards; OSBA regional committees then select the five winners.

Bennett, who has been a school board member for more than 25 years, represents OSBA’s Central Region. Between the two boards she belongs to, she has served as board president or vice president for 18 of those years.

The veteran board member is a professor emeritus at Mount Vernon Nazarene University.

She is actively engaged in her schools and community. Bennett regularly attends concerts, plays, debate contests, awards nights and science, history and art fairs in the district.

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She is actively involved with OSBA, where she belongs to the Board of Trustees, Delegate Assembly, Legislative Platform Committee, Student Achievement Leadership Team, Board Member Cabinet, Federal Relations Network and is on the Central Region Executive Committee. Her affiliations with professional organizations include the Knox County-Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce, Delta Kappa Gamma, Knox County-Mount Vernon Distinguished Young Women, Our Schools-Our Community Steering Committee and the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Bennett makes strides to continue her education through professional development. She has attended a variety of recent conferences and workshops, including the OSBA Capital Conference and National School Boards Association’s Federal Relations Network Conference.

In nominating Bennett, her board colleagues wrote: “Dr. Bennett is the epitome of grace under pressure. … School boards face many challenges; I can think of no one better suited to guide a board than Dr. Bennett. My fellow board members and I have learned much by her fine example.”

Bennett and her husband, Fordyce, live in Mount Vernon and have two married daughters and five grandchildren.

The other 2013 All-Ohio School Board members and the districts they serve are: Heidi Dolezal, North Royalton City Schools and Cuyahoga Valley Career Center; Barbara Dysinger, Findlay City Schools; Larry E. Holdren, Ohio Valley Educational Service Center and Washington County Career Center; and Joy Weaver, Montgomery County Educational Service Center and Miami Valley Career Technology Center.

In its 58th year, OSBA leads the way to educational excellence by serving Ohio’s public school board members and the diverse districts they represent through superior service, unwavering advocacy and creative solutions.

For more information, contact OSBA or your local school board members.

Note to reporters, editors: OSBA’s All-Ohio School Board honorees have been told they are receiving the award. Please feel free to contact them for feature stories, comments or photos. Bennett’s phone number is (740) 392-8387. If you wish to cover the awards presentation in Columbus on Nov. 13, please contact Crystal Davis, whose contact information is at the top of this release.

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