Over 100 parents, faculty, and staff gathered the evening of Monday, May 20 for the Annual Meeting of the Atlantic Christian School Association, electing seven Board members, honoring the dedicated service of 11-year ACS veteran teacher Ray Picking, and listening to state of the school reports highlighting this year’s academic and financial progress.
The newly-elected members to the Board of Directors, who will oversee the governance and policies of the school, are: Kris Jacoby, Alisun Klingert-Richards, Jonathan Ireland, Christian Loeb, Dan Rallo, DJ Schrag, and Scott Shivers. With their election, the full complement of 12 members will begin their official term of service on July 1. Notably, the election of DJ Schrag marks the first time in the school’s 47-year history that an ACS alumnus will serve on the Board. He graduated in 1988 when ACS leased space from Ocean City Baptist Church. Alisun Klingert-Richards also has deep ACS ties as she attended ACS for kindergarten. School parents Jason Kiefer, Jason Lewis, and Doug Pearson were also elected to serve on the Board’s Nominating Committee representing the Association.
Oblen and Board of Directors’ Chair Doug Pearson recognized and thanked faculty member Ray Picking for his 11 years of service to ACS, including his significant efforts overseeing maintenance of the school’s athletic fields.
Chief School Administrator Karen Oblen touched on highlights from the past school year, referencing the 2018-2019 Annual Report publication that was distributed to the attendees. She said there are plans to add additional Chromebooks next year, expanding on this year’s launch of a one-on-one Chromebook initiative. She said other new developments for next year include dual enrollment credit with Atlantic Cape Community College for five high school classes and continuing to offer leadership opportunities and career-oriented classes. She also noted that ACS will be receiving over $25,000 in funding to enhance security on the school campus.
A new Q&A session at the end of the meeting gave the Association members an opportunity to pose questions about a variety of topics. Parent-Teacher Fellowship President Terry Vogel also encouraged parents to get involved in the service organization and gave out gift card prizes to individuals who participated in the Shop-a-Roo program.