BY SYDNEY HOOVER
The Eudora School Board selected Samantha Arredondo to fill a vacant position created by a member resignation.
Arredondo was one of three candidates a committee from the School Board interviewed this month.
The committee, made up of three current board members, recommended her to the board at its meeting Thursday night.
“I think the three of us would agree that Samantha’s enthusiasm and passion really was palpable,” said board member Joe Hurla. “You could just feel it in the room, the enthusiasm she had.”
Arredondo has two children at Eudora Elementary and said she and her husband were drawn to move to Eudora due to the school district after she began a job in Kansas City.
As a “newcomer” to the district, Hurla said the board felt she could bring a new, unique perspective to the board.
“She has an innovative perspective,” Hurla said. “I think with Samantha, she does bring an outside perspective to a degree.”
Arredondo, who attended Thursday’s meeting, said she wanted to apply to the board position to have a further impact on the Eudora community and bring a different perspective to the board as a working mom. As a board member, she wants to focus on diversity and making students “world citizens.”
“This is our community,” she said. “I’m people-centric in my life. It’s the people that make your life, and I think that enthusiasm for this position, it really just comes from wanting to be a part of all the kids and setting that tone and being part of this district and community and to watch them flourish.”
Hurla said all three candidates were impressive and the quality of the applicants made the process much more difficult for the committee than anticipated.
“We were as a committee just ecstatic about the three candidates. I think had we gotten just one of them, we would have been relatively satisfied,” Hurla said.
Arredondo will take her position at the next board meeting in March. She replaces Bryan Maring, who stepped down from his position on the board in November 2019 after moving out of state. Arredondo’s term will last until 2024.
“I’m really excited to be part of it. Because really the strength of the board is everyone together,” Arredondo said.
Reach reporter Sydney Hoover at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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