Political winds bring change to local offices

It was a year of change in Polk County, with the winds of political fortune having blown in various directions for officials in the cities and county governments. A year that started with new school board members and a new superintendent ended that way as well as 2017 will long be remembered as a year of shake-up in positions.

But that wasn’t all: Polk County residents went back to the polls this year to decide who should fill local positions and to approve an extension of the extension of Education-only, Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax fund through 2026.

All of these were highlights from some of the big stories to come out of Polk County in 2017.

Here’s a review of some of the more memorable stories over the year:

New superintendents take on leadership of schools

As the year started, the Polk School District got a new man in charge as Dr. Darrell Wetherington took over for Dr. William Hunter, who retired at the end of 2016 after only three years in the job.

Wetherington’s tenure didn’t last long as Polk School District’s leader.

In February, Wetherington was suspended with pay in a unanimous vote by the Board of Education after an investigation into allegations of improper conduct and an incident at Westside Elementary School on Friday, Feb. 17 where he entered his estranged wife’s classroom and began an argument in front of students on the pretense he was at the school by her request to deliver a Diet Coke.