Oak Creek School Counselor Elected as New Greendale School Board Member

A new face is sitting on the Greendale School Board.

Melanie Kuzmanovic, mother of three, was voted in by the school board to replace Jim Schutte.

Schutte resigned his position as board member in April because he moved outside of the district.

Five people were in interviewed at Monday night’s open board meeting. The board asked questions about how to handle budgets, where the district could improve, technology, and communicating with parents.

Kuzmanovic has been a school counselor for over 20 years. She works at Oak Creek High School. In her interview she said she understands the trials and tribulations of working with teachers, students, parents, district personnel and the difficulty of budgets. Before she was a counselor she was a manager at Procter and Gamble where she developed cost effective programs.

Kuzmanovic has a graduating senior and a freshman at the high school.

Others that were interviewed were Amy Ali, Roger Dalkin, Russell DeLong, and Michael Spitzer.

"It was a very difficult decision," said School Board President Joe Crapitto. "I was very encouraged that we had a strong number of candidates put themselves forth and throw their names in the ring. I think all the candidates were strong. Any of the five that were there could have easily been contributing members of the board. I look forward to working with Melanie. I encourage and hope that the other four candidates stay involved with the education of our community."