Scott Morgan accepted the walnut gavel in his right hand Monday, and admitted to vacillating on whether to accept the position of Lawrence school board president.

“Just how happy are you?” he asked his predecessor, Sue Morgan, after accepting the ornamental mallet from her.

The board voted unanimously Monday to make the Lawrence book publisher the board president for 2002-2003 school year.

By accepting the title, his workload in the next 12 months will triple.

“This is not an honor I was sure I wanted to accept,” Scott Morgan said.

The new president thanked his family for tolerance of his expanded work schedule and expressed appreciation to Sue Morgan for serving as a valuable mentor.

Sue Morgan said the transition shouldn’t alter the board’s primary mission of focusing on academic improvement of all students and filling classrooms with quality teachers.

“You don’t make a whole lot of progress when you argue about what direction to go in,” she said.

The board unanimously voted to make Austin Turney the vice president. He was president of the board in 2000-2001.

Supt. Randy Weseman said Sue Morgan did an “outstanding” job maneuvering through a year full of challenging budget, curriculum and facilities issues.

He said he expected Scott Morgan to perform admirably.

“He does his homework,” Weseman said. “We’re better because of that.”

He said one of the intangibles Scott Morgan brought to the presidency was courage to take unpopular stands.

“I wouldn’t want to have a board member who is afraid to speak his mind,” Weseman said.

Lawrence since 1988. He manages Morgan Quitno publishing company in East Lawrence.