Warsaw School Board members voted for Melissa Kissling to fill the vacant District 3 position on the board Monday.
The board seat term runs through Jan. 1, 2029.
The vacancy Kissling will fill comes after Mallika Klingaman ran unopposed for the District 3 board position to take over for Elle Turley, who did not seek re-election. At November’s Warsaw School Board meeting, Klingaman’s residency eligibility was questioned as attorney Timothy Shelly, with Warrick and Boyn LLP, said a school board candidate is required to live in the district that they file for, on the day of the election and when the person starts their term.
Klingaman in December decided to withdraw her name as a trustee-elect.
The school board interviewed three candidates for the District 3 representative position on Jan. 14, Board President Heather Reichenbach said Monday. The three candidates were Kissling, Berto Nunez and Michael Gough. Since then, the school board received an email from Nunez stating he wished to withdraw his name from the candidacy for the position due to his concern of having the time to serve in the position.
Reichenbach said for the position, the remaining school board members would have to vote and the majority of the board would have to vote for the same candidate.
Reichenbach said they had a strong pool of candidates.
Board member Brad Johnson said all of the candidates did well and were outstanding. He said one stood out to him, as Kissling has experience within the school system and “did the proper homework.”
Board member Randy Polston said Johnson left off Kissling was familiar with board policies.
Board Vice President Tom Westerhof said Kissling’s experience as a parent to two Warsaw Community Schools graduates is invaluable.
Board Secretary Matt Deuel said he thought it was very obvious Kissling had knowledge of board policies, among other things, which makes it helpful for her to jump right into the position.
After Monday’s meeting, Kissling said she decided to file for the position because she’s been involved in WCS ever since her children started in 2008. She worked at Madison Elementary and the Warsaw Career Center. She quit working at the WACC in June and had given herself about six months to figure out how she could serve the community and the school board position became available.
She was always at the school, not just for her own children, but also for the children who didn’t have family support. “That’s why I’m still interested in serving the schools.”
Kissling said she read all of the school board policies before she interviewed with the school board Jan. 14. The policies make it clear how much Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert is in charge of and how important it is he has good people under him to carry forward with the school corporation’s mission.
Kissling said she hopes to serve however she can in whatever capacity the school board needs her and continue to help the students, families and employees. She thinks it’s important employees feel valued and want to stick around.
In other business, the board learned:
• Warsaw Community Schools had an all-time high graduation rate in 2024, with 98.1% of students having met state requirements. Hoffert said WCS’ graduation rate was the highest in the county. The school corporation’s ultimate goal is to have a 100% graduation rate and they are getting closer to it every year.
• The Wawasee and Warsaw Community Schools student councils had a combined effort to raise money for Combined Community Services during basketball games. Wawasee raised about $700. WCS raised $1,410.80.