ACC finds a new trustee

Robin Schallie, the director of the Iola Area Chamber of Commerce and a longtime former college instructor, was tapped to fill a vacant seat on the Allen Community College Board of Trustees.

February 9, 2022 - 9:27 AM

The trustees board of Allen Community College appointed Robin Schallie, Iola Area Chamber of Commerce director, to fill an open seat. She has taught at the college level for more than 30 years and recently taught as an adjunct professor at Neosho County Community College. Photo by Richard Luken / Iola Register

Iola Area Chamber of Commerce Director Robin Schallie can add being an Allen Community College trustee to her resume.

Schallie was appointed to the board by the other five ACC trustees during their monthly meeting Monday.

A vacancy was created when Iola City Councilman Mark Peters, elected to the board as a write-in candidate, declined to fill the position after being notified that serving on the City Council and trustees board could be considered a conflict of interest.

Schallie is a former instructor, teaching at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, Wis., and most recently as an adjunct professor at Neosho County Community College.

The remaining five trustees picked Schallie over three others who had expressed an interest in the vacancy, former ACC instructor and trustee Larry Manes, Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center Executive Director Nathan Fawson and former Iola City Councilman Gene Myrick.

Three of the five trustees Jessica Thompson, Jenny Spillman and Vicki Curry, voted for Schallie; Lonnie Larson and Gena Clounch voted for Fawson.

Larson encouraged the other hopefuls to consider running for the board during the next election cycle.

“This was a difficult decision,” he said.

(Note: the story was corrected to fix the voting breakdown.)