Beth Talbert Elected School Board President

In a unanimous vote, Beth Talbert was elected by her peers this week to serve as president of the Rochester Board of Education.

The board held its annual election of officers Monday night. Lisa Nowak was elected vice-president; Pat Piskulich was elected secretary and Jennifer Berwick was elected treasurer.

Talbert, who served the board as president in 2010, replaces Berwick in the president's seat. She thanked Berwick for her "remarkable leadership in a time of testing" last year.

"2012 was a year we were really happy to close the books on in Rochester," Talbert said. "When Mrs. Berwick became president, I'm not certain she could have known that we would have all of our employee contracts up for negotiation, that we would privatize two key services in our district, that we would need to replace a board member and that we would need to replace a superintendent and hire an interim superintendent.

"Any one of those things gives a board president a headache and all of those things combined in one year mean the stars were not aligned.

"Thankfully, they're all lined up again."

An audience of about 30 people stood and applauded Berwick. Interim Superintendent Tresa Zumsteg also offered her praise.

"You are an understated leader," Zumsteg said, emphasizing Berwick's integrity and strength.

The Board of Education is interviewing candidates this week for the superintendent position. Read more here.