The newest member of the Mansfield City Schools Board of Education is returning to the district that “prepared me well for life.”
Judy Stahl Forney, a 1967 graduate of Mansfield Malabar High School, took the oath of office Tuesday night after she was selected to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Monica Hubbard.
The remaining four board members – Renda Cline, Chris Elswick, Sheryl Weber and Gary Feagin – voted unanimously in choosing Forney from a field a five applicants. She will serve the remainder of Hubbard’s term through Dec. 31. If she desires to serve longer she will have to be a candidate in the November election.
“My heart’s in it. I applied because I thought I was qualified and could contribute positively,” said Forney, who lives in Mansfield and serves as treasurer and chief financial officer of Mount Vernon City Schools. “I believe in public service. Somebody has to do it and I’ve been involved for many years.”
Forney has a degree in business administration and a masters in school finance, both from Ashland University. She served as district treasurer at Bucyrus, Lucas and Lexington before taking that position in Mount Vernon. She was elected to the Lexington Local Schools Board of Education in 1997 and 2001. “I was prepared well for life by my parents and the teachers and staff of Mansfield City Schools. Not just an education, but for life,” said Forney, who grew up on Third Street. “I enjoyed high school at Malabar. I was in the band and was class treasurer.”
A resident of Lexington since 1975, she and her husband, John, relocated to Mansfield in 2015.
Like Mansfield, Mount Vernon is an urban district in the sense that it has a significant level of poverty, Forney said. “The demographics in Mansfield involve much more diversity, which is not a bad thing,” she said. “I’m really big on communication. A school district functions best when it makes the community feel a connection to its schools.”
In her letter of application to the board, Forney wrote that she is “a proponent of strong and positive public schools with a main focus on optimum experience for students.” She amplified that view Wednesday morning. “I keep a positive view and the kids help me do that. The more you’re around the kids, the better. They are the focus of what we do,” she said. “They are the future of our country.”
The board’s next regular meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 21 at Malabar Intermediate School.
Source: Mansfield Schools — Photo Credit: Creative Commons License
