Olentangy Local Schools board member Mindy Patrick will join the Delaware Area Career Center Board of Education this year and will represent the district for the foreseeable future.
Patrick has been on the Olentangy Board of Education since January 2016. She was reelected in November 2019. During her time on the Olentangy BOE, she has served as vice president once, president twice, and has served on the Policy, Facilities and School Advocacy committees.
Last month, longtime Olentangy board member and Olentangy’s representative on the DACC board, Julie Wagner Feasel, announced she would be stepping out of the DACC role in order to focus on serving Olentangy and her position as the vice president of communications of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
Patrick said she wanted to take the job because she’s personally invested in the DACC.
“I have a personal stake in the career center as both a parent and a member of the Olentangy Board of Education,” Patrick said. “My son is in a new program at DACC, Exercise Science. Julie needed to step down due to professional and board of education time constraints. We are so fortunate for her years of service and dedication! It is a privilege to further serve the community in this new role. I bring with me five years of board of education experience; I have a student at the DACC, and I am proud to serve as the only female board member.”
Outside of her position on the Olentangy board, Patrick serves as the finance director for The Delaware County Foundation. Patrick and her family moved to Delaware County from Michigan in 2008 and currently reside in Powell. Patrick said she has a daughter who graduated from Liberty High School in 2018 and currently attends the University of Kentucky.
Patrick said her son is a junior at Liberty High School and attends the DACC.
“He has the learning challenges of dyslexia and dyscalculia,” Patrick said. “The opportunity of DACC was embraced, and he really enjoys the different learning environments. Not all students across Ohio have such an amazing resource. Delaware County is blessed!”
Patrick said she is proud to be an advocate at the local and state level for literacy initiatives around dyslexia, and she co-founded the Olentangy Dyslexia Network (ODN).
“ODN has helped other parent advocacy organizations form, and we have all come together to form Ohio-Kid,” Patrick said. “There is nothing dearer to my heart than fighting for all kids to read. Dyslexia effects one in five Americans (over 300,000 Ohio students).”
Patrick said she brings her perspective as a parent and as a board member to the DACC role.
“I serve the community and having parent perspective and how decisions translate is extremely beneficial,” she said. “I have had the privilege of living in this district while my children attended elementary, middle, high school and now the career center. We moved in when Olentangy had 13,000 students, now we have 22,000 students. I’ve been here for two levies, several redistrictings, the ongoing fight for fair funding, hired a superintendent, a treasurer and served as board president during a pandemic. I don’t know that I would have felt comfortable serving in this capacity without that experience.”
Patrick said she hopes the past five years will give her “a good foundation” for her role on the DACC board, adding she’s not looking forward to following in Wagner Feasel’s footsteps, but she’s looking forward to learning more about the school.
“There is no one more dedicated to the students of Olentangy and DACC (than Wagner Feasel). She works tirelessly,” Patrick said. “I have some big shoes to fill! I am looking forward to working with members of the other Delaware County board of educations and developing those relationships. I love seeing what our students are capable of. They never cease to amaze me; I will get a whole new view at DACC and that is what I enjoy most!”
Patrick said her goal for the DACC is the same as it was when she joined the Olentangy board — learning about the operations of the school.
“We all have great ideas and aspirations, however, understanding those operations and perimeters in which the organization must function are critical to doing the work and strategically moving forward,” Patrick said.
The DACC board will meet next on Jan. 13.
