BASALT, Colo…Roaring Fork School District swore in its two new board members, Karl Hanlon and Mary Elizabeth Geiger, and elected new board officers Wednesday night at its regularly scheduled Board of Education meeting held at Basalt High School.
Daniel Biggs, a three-year board member, is the new board president; Bob Johnson, a 10-year veteran of the board and a past board president, is vice president; and Matthew Hamilton, who served as board president the last three years is secretary/treasurer.
Newly appointed board members will serve for one year, then they will have to run for election in November 2015. The District A position is for a two-year term and District C is for a four-year term. Hanlon lives near Carbondale and will represent District A, while Geiger is from Glenwood Springs and will serve District C.
Geiger has lived in Glenwood Springs since 2001. She is an attorney specializing in real estate, land use, municipal and water law, and worked with Sherry Caloia until her election to the District Attorney Office in 2013, at which time Geiger began working at Garfield & Hecht, P.C. Geiger and her husband, Chris, have two children who attend Sopris Elementary School. She has served on the City of Glenwood Springs Planning and Zoning Commission since 2008, was a board member and president at OUR School Preschool from 2006-2014, and serves on the Ninth Judicial District Judicial Performance Commission.
“I am committed to the implementation of the District’s Strategic Plan, providing the best learning experience for all students, and the Board’s transparency and communication with parents, teachers, staff and students,” she said.
Hanlon has lived in the Roaring Fork Valley since 1996. He is currently a partner at Karp Neu Hanlon Attorneys at Law in Glenwood Springs, where his practice focuses on water law and policy, municipal, special districts and land use matters. Prior to KNH, he was the city attorney for Glenwood Springs. He and his wife, Sheryl, have a blended family of four children: two sons having recently graduated from Basalt High School, a daughter who is a freshman at Roaring Fork High School, and a son who is a fifth grader at Carbondale Community School.
“My inspiration for being on the BOE finds its roots in both the past and the future,” said Hanlon. “My brother and sister as well as our cousins were all first generation college students. Our success was found in both committed and involved parents as well as a great, well-funded public education system in Wyoming. As I watch the slide of funding nationwide and statewide for education, the financial struggle many families face, the impact of standardized testing and the soaring cost of a college education it drives me to look at the future, get involved and try and make a difference.”
Mary Elizabeth Geiger, District C
Karl Hanlon, District A
