The Eureka Springs School Board has a new member.

At a special meeting held Monday, Nov. 18, James “Rusty” Rusterholz was selected by the board from two candidates to replace Joe Hill, who held the Zone 1 seat before recently announcing he was building a house and moving to another county.

“He’s moving out of the district so the board accepted his resignation,” superintendent Bryan Pruitt said.

Rusterholz will serve the remainder of Hill’s term, which lasts until May 2025.

“We had a couple of people who were interested, so they interviewed them and appointed Rusty,” Pruitt said. “He will serve until May and then he’ll have to run for that position. Anyone can run for it.

Pruitt said Rusterholz is a retired police officer and most recently has been involved in high school’s booster club and has been a substitute teacher.

“He won’t be able to sub anymore being a board member, but he’s been connected to the school,” Pruitt said. “He knows a lot of the kids and a lot of people and is well respected in the community.

While Rusterholz had to live in Zone 1 to be eligible for Hill’s seat because of the state’s districting rules that went into effect in 2022, that won’t be a policy during the May election in Eureka Springs.

At its regular meeting held Monday, Nov. 11, the school board adopted a resolution for the district to revert back to seven at-large seats, something that now is again allowed, Pruitt said.

“A couple of years ago, I think in 2022, the legislature had everybody … because the census we had over 10 percent minority in the district, so the districts had to pay thousands of dollars to get zoned,” Pruitt said. “We paid $5,000. Now, the legislature has come back and said no, it doesn’t affect the voting rights of 1965 so we could adopt a resolution to go back to at-large.”

Currently, the district has five zoned seats and two at-large seats.

OTHER BOARD ITEMS Also at the Nov. 11 meeting the board approved one-time bonuses of $1,200 for employees who have been full-time prior to Nov. 1 and have worked more than 100 hours, Pruitt said.

“Originally, it was budged for $1,000, and I got to thinking about it later and I thought that I wanted everyone to get $1,000, but by the time Uncle Sam gets their part,” he said. “So, I met with our business manager and we bumped it up to $1,200. That way everyone will get close to that $1,000 by the time taxes get taken out.

“It’s always exciting when we can do this for our people.”