‘This was not an easy decision’: Matt Wyatt resigns after less than 2 years on Talawanda BOE
“This was not an easy decision,” Wyatt told the Oxford Free Press of leaving the district, although he will be moving with his spouse into their “dream home” in Hamilton.
Talawanda Board of Education member Matt Wyatt announced during a regular meeting on Sept. 17 he will be resigning effective Sept. 25.
Wyatt was originally appointed on Sept. 30, 2024, to fill a vacancy left by former board member David Bothast, who also resigned on Sept. 9, 2024. Wyatt ran to keep his seat in the November 2025 general election and won with the most votes of four candidates.
Before moving to Oxford and taking a position as Senior Director of Development at Miami University’s Farmer School of Business, Wyatt served on the Elizabethtown Board of Education in Kentucky for nearly a decade. He’d served in his former position at Miami for just two years before applying for the open spot on the Talawanda board.
“There were so many good applicants when I (applied), I felt I had zero chance,” Wyatt told the Oxford Free Press after the meeting Sept. 17, adding although he felt he had a good application, no one knew of him at the time.
Wyatt said when he first took his seat on the board, it was “chaotic, “filled with strife” and couldn’t agree on anything. He said that was one of his reasons for applying: he had experience being on a school board and felt it would be unfair to someone brand new walking into that environment.
But since at least the 2025 general election, he said it’s been like “night and day” with how the board operates.
“I know the election had a lot to do with it, and that we have one coming up and folks want to get reelected,” Wyatt said. “They need to remind the voters of what we could easily slip back to in one election, so the stakes are just as high in 2027 as they were in 2025.”
Of leaving the school district, Wyatt told the Oxford Free Press, “This was not an easy decision,” although he will be moving with his spouse into their “dream home” in Hamilton. Still, he said he feels as though 12 years is long enough to serve on school boards and is unlikely to run again for a seat on the Hamilton City School District Board of Education.
“But who knows about another office?” Wyatt said. “We’ll just see. We just want to move in and take in the community. And we love Oxford; we love the community here, so it’s just down the road. We’re not moving very far, it just happens to be just a little bit outside the district.”
During the board meeting, Wyatt thanked voters for the “honor” of being elected for a full term after knowing him for just a year.
“I made one promise when I got on the board, and that was that I would call it as I saw it. And I believe that I did,” Wyatt said. “The voters of this district sent a clear and strong message. They want common sense, not grandstanding. They want the board’s focus on the duty, not themselves.”
Wyatt pointed to “great gains” in the school district in the past couple years, including in improving early literacy and closing achievement gaps, adding “I know that we have a lot of work to do, but this is what districts can accomplish when the board keeps an eye on what really matters, and our educators can focus on our students.”
“I think this is an amazing school district,” Wyatt told the Oxford Free Press. “I had no idea at all what a school district would do for their students, because we do more here than we did in Kentucky … as far as we take care of every student where they’re at.”
Wyatt pointed out local tax dollars make up nearly 70% of the school district’s budget – a greater portion than many districts in the state.
“That is a product you’re buying,” Wyatt said. “You’re buying a great product.”
Board President Rebecca Howard said the 30-day time period in which the district will legally need to fill Wyatt’s position will begin on Sept. 25. She said anyone interested should wait to contact the district until it sends out a public notice with further instructions.
Anyone appointed by the district to fill Wyatt’s position will not serve the remainder of his term, but until Dec. 31, 2027, or after the next general election in November 2027 when they will need to run again if they want to keep the seat.
The board’s next regular meeting will be on Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. in the Talawanda High School Auditorium. Howard said there will likely be a special session before then to discuss the appointment of a new board member, but it’ll be announced closer to the date, as all submissions will need to be in by Oct. 9.
