In January, John McTurk, a former Mingus Union High School student, stepped down from his position on the Mingus Union High School District governing board, citing health concerns.
In the time since, Yavapai County School Superintendent Tim Carter opened up the position to applications from the public.
On Wednesday, Feb. 26, Carter announced that he had appointed Greg Roeller, who used to be employed at MUHS as security staff, to the vacant position. The other two candidates were local dentist and Mingus parent Austin Babcock and Edmund Lisi, a former CTE engineering instructor at Mingus.
“Mr. Roeller understands the role of the Governing Board and will work to balance the needs of students, parents, staff and the taxpayer,” Carter wrote in a press release. “He should relate well to all segments of the community and will work well with his fellow board members.”
“I’m thrilled that Greg is coming aboard,” Mingus Board President Carol Ann Teague wrote in an email. “We had three absolutely stellar candidates — I don’t envy Tim Carter [with] that decision.”
Teague said that she had not been directly involved in the choice and did not know any of the candidates personally, but that she had faith in Carter’s decision-making.
“I was not present when the other Board members spoke to Tim,” Teague said. “I know that when I spoke to Tim he asked me what I wanted in a board member, and I told him, ‘Familiar with Mingus, smart, articulate, involved with kids and not too prone to be contentious.’ He chose Greg, so I feel listened to.”
Roeller stepped down from his position at Mingus after a heart attack in March 2018. Since he is now on Social Security Disability Insurance and not able to work, Roeller said he wanted to return to the district in whatever way he could, seeking a position on the board instead of working full time for the school.
“I moved here in 2003 and I’ve always been active working with young people in the community,” Roeller said. “This gave me a chance to get back involved in the community with helping the young people somehow, keeping my finger on the pulse and starting to get active again.”
In addition to working security at Mingus, Roeller worked at the school from 2003 to 2005 as an instructional aide in special education, a position he also held at Camp Verde High School in the 2010-11 school year. From 2005 to 2009, Roeller co-founded and directed a network of homes for at-risk youth in the area. Before coming to the Verde Valley in 2003, Roeller had also worked in group homes in the Phoenix area and worked as a youth pastor, which he continued to do in the Verde Valley from 2012 to 2018. He also helped open up a food bank in Cornville.
Roeller also has one grandchild in MUHSD, will have another at the school next year and one that graduated recently and went to Arizona State University.
While he was working at Mingus in security, he was offered a more full-time, year-round position in shipping and receiving, but went back to security, after finding that the new position took him away from interacting with the students.
“I missed working closer with the kids,” Roeller said. “Even though you’re working security, you build a lot of relationships. You get to learn about their lives, you get to help. So I gave up a year-round position, took a not-year- round position, and went back into security.“
Carter said that he had been extremely impressed, not just with Roeller but with all three candidates for the position, and that he had encouraged all three to run for the board seat in the coming election in the fall. According to Carter, it was Roeller’s interview that truly stood out to him, which Carter described as one of the top five he had ever had.
Roeller said that he feels that the school district is currently in a good place and hopes to keep it there, and that one of his main priori- ties as a board member is to keep students safe. As a new board member, Roeller said he had not developed a position one way or another on the contentious issue of school district consolidation, wanting to hear from all sides before making a decision.
