MOSES LAKE — Paul Hill and Moses Lake Police Department Chief Kevin Fuhr were sworn in as new members of the Moses Lake School Board at a meeting Thursday following their victories in last month’s general election.

Fuhr was also unanimously elected board president for the next year, with Shannon Hintz elected as the board’s vice president.

“Thank you, board members,” Fuhr said after he was handed the gavel at the start of the meeting.

Both Fuhr and Hill said they wanted to take some time and heal some of the ill-feeling that roiled the MLSD in the last few months, following the end of superintendent Josh Meek’s employment in August, as well as concerns by some parents and residents about the teaching of race and gender.

“I’m going to learn a lot,” Hill said before the meeting. “I have a lot to learn. My ultimate goal is to bring about healing in this community as part of a team. Those are my two priorities right now.”

“I hope to mend fences between the school board and the community and bring some communication back between the board and its partners in the community,” Fuhr said before the meeting.

Fuhr added he also hopes to get out more often in the community, though he will have to carefully balance his duties as police chief with his responsibilities as a school board member, since he cannot use city time or city resources when he is on the job.

“I’ll make it work,” he said. “I may have to go home a lot to change clothes.”