They have previously wrapped long careers as educators, and now Jackie Warnstadt and Mike McTaggart are one week from ending substantial stints as Sioux City School Board members.
McTaggart and Warnstadt have served a combined 19 years on the board, which sets policy for a school system that educates nearly 15,000 students.
Also exiting the seven-member board are David Gleiser, after four years, and Miyuki Nelson, after 1 1/2 years. Gleiser decided not to seek another term, while Nelson lost her election bid in the Nov. 5 election.
The four outgoing board members will participate in a last meeting on Nov. 25, before the four new members — Juline Albert, Dan Greenwell, Taylor Goodvin and Monique Scarlett — are sworn in later in the meeting.
“I wish them all the best,” McTaggart said of the incoming board members.
Warnstadt, who has spent 11 years on the board, declined the Journal’s request for an interview. McTaggart, during an hour-long interview, reviewed his toughest days on the school board, plus smiled as he recounted the good times in support of students as a board member, teacher and administrator over a half century.
McTaggart asserted that people who want to get insight into middle school kids should dig into the 1987 book, “Love Me When I Am Most Unlovable.” He isn’t the type to wax nostalgic for children supposedly having it better in the idyllic 1950s when he came of age.
View the full article by Bret Hayworth on the Sioux City Journal.