The Austin Public Schools board is gearing up for 2013, and two new faces are among the group.

New school board members Don Leathers and Mary Jane Kestner were sworn in at a noon meeting Monday at Austin High School. Following an oath of office, existing board members welcomed their new peers.

“Everybody I talked with on the board is very excited to have you on,” said Superintendent David Krenz.

Greg Larson was elected as a new school board chair to replace Jeff Kritzer, whose term expired at the end of 2012. Other board officers were Don Fox as vice chairperson, Angie Goetz as clerk and Kathy Green as treasurer.

All school board members will now consider which committees they would like to be on. They will then be assigned as committee members and representatives according to their preferences.

Other business

—Out of three possible devices the board could use to go paperless with its agendas in the future, the board chose Android tablets with a screen size of about 10 inches to use for viewing agendas and supporting materials at future meetings.

“It’ll all be virtual,” Krenz said, noting email and web-based documents would be available from the tablet.

The board will purchase a total of nine tablets: one for each board member, and one for each of the two student members.

—The board also moved unanimously to choose the Austin Daily Herald as the official newspaper for publication of minutes and official notices. It accepted the Herald’s bid of $4.95 per column inch.

“This is the same bid that the Herald submitted last year, and it is a reasonable bid,” said Sharon Alms, administrative assistant to the superintendent.