Anita Biles to serve as Springfield school board president

Springfield City School District’s Clark Center. Bill Lackey/Staff

Springfield City School District’s Clark Center. Bill Lackey/Staff

The Springfield City School District’s Board of Education has installed a new president and vice president.

Anita Biles was elected president and Jamie Callan was elected vice president, both unanimously, at the board’s reorganizational meeting this month.

Re-elected members Callan and Chris Williams, and newly elected member Joan Elder were also sworn in during the meeting.

RELATED: Callan, Elder, Williams lead in early votes for Springfield school board

Callan has served as a board member for the last 12 years and as a Springfield-Clark CTC board member for the last 10 years, where he has been president for five years.

Williams has served on the board for the last four years, and volunteered within the district for 15 years.

Elder works as program coordinator at Community Health Foundation in Springfield, is Past President of the Springfield Branch of the American Association of University Women, and board member of the South Fountain Neighborhood Association.

Callan, Williams and Elder were three of four candidates on the ballet for the November election.

RELATED: 4 candidates running for 3 seats on Springfield school board

Callan and Williams’ board seats opened up last year, but the two were re-elected. The third seat, now Elder’s, opened up after former board president Ed Leventhal’s departure.

Leventhal served on the board for 12 years, but said he was moving outside of the school district limits and because of that he was unable to run for another term.

“I will continue to be a major supporter of the district,” Leventhal said in October. “It’s been a good ride and it’s bittersweet that I’m not able to run again.”

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