JOPLIN, Mo. — There are some new faces to the Joplin School Board, and some familiar faces now holding different positions.

26-year-old Rylee Hartwell was elected the new school board president during tonight’s (Tuesday) meeting.

He replaces Jeff Koch, whose bid for re-election fell short earlier this month.

Donnie Greenlee, Jr. was also elected as vice president.

Sworn-in tonight — the three new school board members the majority of Joplin voters selected on April 4th.

Veronica Gatz-Scheurich, Matthew Robertson, and Marda Schroeder.

We caught up with two of them before the start of tonight’s meeting.

“Making sure that we have coursework representing all of our career paths middle school through high school, so that our students, and especially our special education students and some of our at-risk students, are able to take courses in those areas. They’re able to take a course that they’re interested in and that meets their level,” said Marda Schroeder, Member, Joplin Schools Board of Education.

“We don’t have to re-invent the wheel, which is fantastic. There’s so many other public schools around here and in the state that we can lean on and look to and see what they’re doing, take the best of that, bring it back here to make ours better. But also, to be a shinning light for the community, so that the Joplin Schools will be the best schools in the district and that people will want to move to Joplin to take advantage of our schools,” said Matthew Robertson, Member, Joplin Schools Board of Education.

Hartwell is now the youngest school board president ever for the Joplin School District, and quite possibly the state.