East Penn Board Member 'Phones it In'

Usually, board reorganization meetings are pretty cut and dried. Dull even.

Leave it to the East Penn Board of School Directors to find a way to spice up the traditional annual process by which new officers are elected to the board and deliver a little lesson in technology tools in the process.

Last night, all nine board members were counted as "present," although only eight of them were actually in the room.

Board member Alan Earnshaw attended the meeting from Tokyo, Japan, via Skype and voted using text messages. And he was elected vice president to boot.

Highlights of the reorganization meeting include:

• Charles Ballard, a board member for 17 years, was elected to his third term as president.  “I appreciate the opportunity to serve you again,” he said.
• Earnshaw was voted vice president.  Ballard congratulated Earnshaw’s “long-distance” election.
• Meetings will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the board room at the administration building on the second and fourth Monday of each month unless advertised otherwise.