Guilfoy
The Clark-Pleasant school board has picked a member to fill its vacant seat.
The board approved Patrick Guilfoy’s appointment as Clark-Pleasant’s newest board member at a special meeting Tuesday night. The board voted 3-0 with Butch Zike abstaining.
A vacancy on the Clark-Pleasant Community School Corp. Board of Trustees opened last month following the death of ‘legend’ Dave Thompson, who had been serving on the board since 2020. He was Pleasant Township’s representative on the school board and served as its president last year.
Four prospective candidates were interviewed by the board at a work session last Thursday.
Guilfoy is a school district resident who works as principal of South Creek Elementary in Franklin Township. He has an incoming freshman student at Whiteland High School and can be found at nearly every Clark-Pleasant sporting event, he said.
Guilfoy is the son-in-law of Zike and his wife is the principal at Whiteland Elementary.
Guilfoy believes in serving the community and giving back to the places that have given to him, he said. He wants to “make Clark-Pleasant the best community they can make it.”
“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to serve the community,” Guilfoy said. “There’s no one who can replace Dave Thompson and his role as a teacher, a coach and a school board member and it’s just an honor to have the chance to serve the community and to finish the job that he started for us.”
He believes the growing Clark-Pleasant community is the school’s greatest asset and brings people from many backgrounds together. It is important for children to feel safe to learn and they also learn through experiences, Guilfoy said.
Guilfoy graduated from Ball State University with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and from the University of Indianapolis with a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership. Guilfoy has 18 years of experience in the Greenwood, Clark-Pleasant and Shelbyville school districts.
Guilfoy began his teaching career as an elementary teacher and high school baseball coach for ten years in the Greenwood School District. He worked as an instructional coach and assistant principal at Clark-Pleasant schools in 2014 before accepting a position as principal at Coulston Elementary in Shelbyville.
Community pride and balancing traditions and perspectives to be innovative is the school’s biggest challenge, he said. He hopes to work on communicating construction updates and more as clearly as possible. Guilfoy wants to hear all voices and perspectives when making a decision.
Board President Kimberly Crawford said they are excited to have Guilfoy on the board.
Secretary Kent Beeson said Guilfoy’s experience in education is an asset and what drew him to nominate Guilfoy to fill the vacancy.
“I wanted somebody that was in the trenches and he also had that experience,” Beeson said.
Guilfoy will serve until the end of Thompson’s turn on Dec. 31, 2024. Because Thompson was the only candidate to file for his school board seat, Guilfoy will likely hold the office for the four years following as well, Trena McLaughlin, Johnson County Clerk, previously said.
However, write-in candidates can also still file for office, she said.
