Penny Degardin - Director
Mrs. Degardin is serving her fourth term on the Ritenour Board of Education. A 1969 Ritenour High School (RHS) graduate and lifelong resident, Mrs. Degardin is a retired secretary, having worked for 24 years for Stewart, Schaberg and Turner Architects.
From 2002 – 2014, Mrs. Degardin was a councilmember for the City of St. John. Her service ended in 2014 due to term limits. As a councilmember, she was active in many committees, including: budget, code review, human rights commission, park board, tax increment financing and planning & zoning.
Mrs. Degardin has been active in the Ritenour School District and community for many years. She served three years on Ritenour’s calendar committee and was a member of the inaugural Operation Graduation Committee at RHS from 1991-1995. She currently volunteers at RHS and Marvin Elementary.
She founded SUCCESS Basketball, which was a low-cost, evening basketball program for all Ritenour students, which took place from 1995 through 2000. Mrs. Degardin is a former member of S.A.R.T. (Sexual Assault Response Team) which responds to area hospitals to counsel women who have been victims of rape.
Mrs. Degardin and her husband, Gustave, have two children – Victoria (a 1992 Ritenour graduate) and Christina (a 1995 Ritenour graduate). The couple also has three grandchildren, all who attend Ritenour schools. They were also the proud host family of Juliana Scombatti-Martin, an AFS foreign exchange student from Brazil who graduated from Ritenour in 1993.
Mrs. Degardin’s term expires in April 2026.