The Pleasant Valley School Board bid goodbye to two directors at its last meeting in November.

Director Michael Galler didn’t run for election this term, and Director Melanie Zipp lost her seat in the recent election.

Assistant Superintendent Rae Lin Howard wished both Galler and Zipp well on behalf of herself and Superintendent James Konrad, who was not at the meeting. “Thank you for volunteering all of your time not only to the school board but to the committees as well.”

On behalf of the school board, President Sue Kresge presented Galler with a royal blue Pleasant Valley Bears blanket and gave him a hug. Kresge also had a blanket for Zipp, but she was not able to make the meeting due to her work schedule.

Other directors joined them in wishing Galler the best.

Director John Gesiskie thanked him for his years of service. “We really appreciate it,” he said.

“Mike it’s been a pleasure working with you,” said Director Norman Burger.

“Thank you, Michael Galler for your service,” said Director Ryan O’Keefe. “You contributed a lot in the years I’ve been here, and I look forward to seeing you out there giving us a rough time, too.”

Galler said it was “a pleasure working with everybody here,” and reflected on his four years on the board.

He said that when he came on board the school district was in a difficult situation with coming out of COVID, meetings were still in the auditorium, and “our community was a mile away from us, which was awful.” Then there was the financial situation.

“When I look back at where we started, it was really bad. We had over a $6 million in deficit coming on board,” Galler said. “In the past four years, look where we’ve gone. Is it perfect? No, but in the end, I think we’ve made progress.”

Galler thanked the community for supporting him and putting him on the board. He said the job is all volunteer and takes lots of time, but he’s grateful to have served on the board. He didn’t run again because of family reasons and getting ready for retirement, but he said he might be back at some point in time.

The school district also said goodbye to Debra Duff, the school board recorder.

Howard thanked Duff and talked about how she retired from the school district in 2015, but came back to work as a board recorder.

“We will miss you,” Howard said.

Kresge said, “Our dear, dear, dear, dear lady that’s been taking our minutes for I don’t know how many years, but many, many years, Deb best of luck, best wishes on your retirement from everything now, and your new journey. So thank you for everything. We really appreciate it.”

And the district welcomed Van Scott Sr. as the new assistant chief of police. He replaced Brian Silliman and began his new job on Monday.

Galler welcomed him and said to the police chief, “Chief, excellent pick. He will be an asset to the team here and to our school district.”