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Four recently elected Re-2 School Board members were sworn into office at Tuesday evening’s school board meeting in Rifle.
Katie Mackley, who grew up in Rifle and graduated from Rifle High School, hoped her deep ties to the local community would serve her well on the school board.
“Having grown up here and raised my kids in this community I think I have really built some great bonds and relationships with our community members,” Mackley said. “I also think that I will bring some good financial perspective. I have a background in business and I hope that will be beneficial to the school board.”
Mackley serves as executive director of the Rifle Regional Economic Development Corporation, community manager of Rifle Cowork and operations manager at Align Multimedia.
To Mackley’s left was Tom Slappey who was previously appointed to the board after a former board member’s resignation.
“I have a vested interest in the district,” Slappey said. “There is so much to learn.”
Slappey, who has children in the school system as well as family that works in the district, hopes to continue to listen and learn.
Slappey serves as a senior account manager for Ryerson Inc. and has lived and worked in the area since 2008.
“I wanted to continue because I think the board has a lot of difficult decisions,” Slappey said.
Also sworn in for the first time Tuesday was Kirk Wilson.
“It’s an absolute honor to be here,” Wilson said. “Obviously my background is in public safety so I hope to be used as a resource in some of those areas.”
Wilson has been a part of the community for 17 years working for the Rifle Police Department as its emergency manager and training coordinator.
Additionally, Wilson’s wife teaches at Highland Elementary School in Rifle and his son attends kindergarten in the district.
The final member sworn in Tuesday evening was Meriya Stickler, who was born in raised in Colorado and has lived in Garfield County for the last 23 years. Stickler has two sons who both attend Coal Ridge High School.
“I’m looking forward to new initiatives and working really hard to get some of the old initiatives finished,” Stickler said. “I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone.”
