Red Oak school board to try and fill vacant seat by appointment
Following the Sept. 8 school board election, a third seat opened up after Dr. Warren Hayes resigned from the Red Oak School Board.
Hayes sent out a notice on Aug. 31 he was resigning from the school board due to time constraints. Former school board president Lee Fellers and former director Bill Drey lost their seats in the Sept. 8 election.
The new board will now have to fill the remaining vacant position.
The ROCSD board will be one of the first districts in the state to follow a new law in selecting a fifth board member. Members of the board can either appoint a new member or let the people decide in a special election.
As of press time Monday, the ROCSD had received two applications for appointment consideration: former member Bill Drey and Gary Pfeiffer.
After newly-elected school board members Mark Johnson and Bryce Johnson were sworn into their new positions and Paul Griffen was chosen as the new president at last week’s meeting, the board discussed how to fill the vacant seat.
According to Business Manager Shirley Maxwell and Superintendent Tom Messinger, the board has until Sept. 30 to appoint a fifth member. If they fail to appoint someone, a special election will take place Nov. 10.
“One of the things we had originally felt was the proper procedure was that there would be a choice in front of the school board as to whether to appoint a person to fill the vacancy or to opt to call for a special election,” Messinger said. “Late this morning was the first time we had heard that’s not the entire case with it. Actually the school board does not call for, cannot call for, a special election, that the responsibility placed on the school board is to appoint someone. If the school board cannot or does not appoint someone to fill the vacancy, then it rolls over and goes to a special election. The people that can call for a special election are the public through a petition calling for it.”
In order to have a valid petition calling for a special election, 279 signatures will be needed due to the large turnout from the Sept. 8 school board election.
The 279 signatures have to come from voters within the district and the petition must be completed and turned in by Sept. 23. If a valid petition is turned in, no appointment will be made and a special election will occur.
According to an e-mail from the Director of Elections at the Secretary of State’s Office Dawn Williams, the special election must take place no sooner than 30 days and no more than 40 days after the school board’s appointment deadline.
“This year, it would have to go beyond the 40 days because you have to hold your election on a Tuesday and a special election cannot be held on the same day as a general election. So, it would have to go to that following Tuesday,” Messinger said.
Since a city election will take place Nov. 3, the special election would have to be Nov. 10.
Director Kathy Walker said she would like to appoint someone to avoid a special election to save money, which would cost around $1,200, according to County Auditor Stephanie Burke.
Applications for board appointment consist of a letter of intent that should be turned into Maxwell by Sept. 22 at 5 p.m.
If a person is appointed by the board, it is still unclear as to how long their term would last.
“The one biggest piece to it right now that [the Iowa Association of School Boards] could not answer is if the board were to appoint somebody, how long is the term,” Messinger said. “They told us today that they could not answer that question for us.”
Messinger did say that according to the IASB, under current legislation, a term would last until the next school special election.
The school board will discuss appointments at their next regular board meeting on Sept. 28.