New La Crosse school board members sworn in; Deb Suchla elected new president, on third ballot

La Crosse’s school board has welcomed two new members, and has chosen a new president.

Jeff Jackson and Molly Fuchs were sworn in for 3-year terms on Monday night, as was sitting board member Merideth Garcia. All three won seats in the April election. They took their oaths a week later than planned, after last week’s special school board organizational meeting was postponed because of a storm.

Deb Suchla was chosen president of the La Crosse school board, succeeding Juan Jimenez, who did not run for re-election to the board this spring. Suchla’s win followed a little unexpected suspense in the process. The first two votes for president by secret ballot, during a meeting at 5:30 p.m., led to a 4-4 tie between Suchla and Trevor Sprague. A ninth member of the board, Jim Bagniewski, was returning from a trip to Finland, and did not get to the Hogan building until the regular 6 p.m. meeting. The tie votes led to some joking comparisons to the selection of a new pope, with one reference to installing a chimney to signal the winner.

The third ballot happened about an hour into the regular board meeting, after Bagniewski had arrived, and Suchla was chosen by a 5-4 vote. In a vote for vice president, Bagniewski was selected by a 5-4 margin over Merideth Garcia, who was later chosen as board clerk. Sprague was chosen as treasurer.