Hannibal School Board elects J’Nelle Lee as president

HANNIBAL, Mo. — J’Nelle Lee was unanimously elected by her fellow Hannibal Board of Education members to serve as president of the board at its meeting Wednesday night in the Hannibal Middle School auditorium. 

Lee, who has served as the board’s vice president since last year, switched places with Blane Mundle, who was elected president of the board last year and vice president Wednesday night. 

Tysa Coleman was elected for a second term as treasurer and Meghan Karr was chosen as secretary. Stacey Graves was chosen to be the board’s delegate to the Missouri School Board Association.

Prior to the selection of officers, Lee was sworn in for her fourth term on the board after being re-elected April 8. 

Ann Lear was also sworn in for her first term to replace Scott Hawes, who served for one. Though Lear is a rookie on the board, she brings decades of experience as an educator in the community. 

Eugene Field Elementary Principal Kelsey Whitley stated that students would be visiting the elementary schools they will be attending for the 2025-2026 school year next week. Superintendent Susan Johnson said Hannibal High School broadcasting students are working on a series of virtual tours of the schools for Eugene Field students and families.

Eugene Field teacher Carmen Mueller invited community members to the school’s block party to be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 17 that will feature games, food, prizes, music and tours of the building. (In case of rain, the event will be held the following day on May 18 from 1 to 4 p.m.)

Transportation director Scott Speer provided an evaluation of the district’s transportation program. He identified a “seasoned and well-trained staff,” strong training efforts, preventative maintenance, security-enhancing technology, successful grant attainment, efficiency-enhancing fuel swaps, financial partnerships and crisis preparedness as the program’s top strengths. Decreased ridership, a cost-savings-motivated pause in school bus purchasing and three open bus routes for the 2025-2026 school year were identified as concerns.

Johnson provided an update on the district’s kindergarten prep efforts, which led to recommendations for further hearing evaluations for 38 students and vision evaluations for 20 students. 171 kindergartners are expected to enter into the program this fall, a significant drop from the current enrollment of 254.

The board unanimously approved a bid from Homebank for a 12 month CD in the amount of $1 million with an annual percentage yield of 4.58%. They also approved a modification to the policy requirement that states a bidding process must ensue for purchases above $15,000; the threshold has been increased to $50,000, as recommended by the National School Board Association.

A 2,149 square foot donation to the City of Hannibal was approved for the Market Street Sidewalk Project. Bids from Blackout Custom Seal Coating and Asphalt LLC for maintenance projects at various locations throughout the district were unanimously approved, with the exception of Mundle, who cited a conflict of interest and abstained from the vote.

Johnson had an update on how the efforts in Washington to gut the Department of Education have trickled down to the district.

“Superintendents around the nation received a notice from the U.S. Department of Education that was giving states and schools 10 days to sign and return a certification, and if you didn’t — it said in the letter, anyway — you could risk losing federal money,” she said.

A breakdown of the district’s federal educational funding can be found in a recent Muddy River News article, which was published prior to President Donald Trump’s executive order to close the Department of Education. 

(Though congressional approval is required to close a federal agency in the same way it’s required to create one, a series of executive orders could bleed the department of its funding to the point that it is economically and influentially useless.)

Johnson said the letter was to certify that K-12 schools were “following federal civil rights laws and eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion practices.” After reaching out to the district’s legal counsel to ask for clarification, a webinar was held Monday and Johnson was informed that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education would be handling Missouri’s certifications.

“Each district in the state of Missouri already has to sign off on adherence to state and federal laws. We have to do that every year,” she said.

Johnson also discussed Missouri HB 711, which pertains to an opt-in open enrollment program that would allow non-resident students to enroll in the district. The bill is making its way through the Senate after passing in the House and, if passed into law, would give school districts in the state until Nov. 1 to opt-in to the program for the following school year. 

“Participating districts are not required to add teachers, staff or classrooms to accommodate transfer applicants,” Johnson said. “I haven’t figured that one out yet, but that’s what (the bill) says.”

Aside from those exceptions, the district would be required to take on certain expenses associated with an influx of non-resident students, such as transportation costs for non-resident special education students.

Johnson said many surrounding school districts have drafted a resolution to oppose such legislation, and read aloud a sample resolution:

“Hannibal School District #60 Board of Education resolution opposing legislation regarding open enrollment: Whereas the Board of Education has resolved to focus resident taxpayer resources upon the education of students who reside in the district, whereas no credible research shows that open enrollment improves student achievement and whereas open enrollment will result in a significant adverse financial impact on public schools, therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education of the Hannibal School District hereby resolves to oppose any legislation providing for open enrollment in Missouri public schools of non-resident students.”

“There’s a lot of different tax cut bills, too,” Johnson said. “I like saving money on taxes, but that’s definitely going to be an impact on funding for schools, so we obviously need to be paying attention.”

Graves made a motion to sign the resolution Johnson read, and Lee seconded. The board voted in favor of adopting the resolution, with the exception of members Ronald Greenwell and Jeff Evans.

Lastly, to accommodate the busy academic month of May, the board decided to move next month’s meeting from the third Wednesday of the month to Thursday, May 15 at 6 p.m. at the Early Childhood Center, located at 544 Veterans Rd.

A copy of the board’s entire informational packet for the April 2025 meeting can be found here.