(Meeting Updates – Photo Illustration – MetroCreativeConnection)
MARIETTA — The Marietta City School District Board of Education will hold a special meeting on Monday beginning at 8 a.m. to discuss plans on how to move forward with the replacement of member John Lehman after a statement released by the board Tuesday night said he resigned on Monday.
Attempts to reach Lehman for comment were not returned this week.
“Mr. Lehman’s resignation was something that was very sudden and happened very unexpectedly,” Board President Cody Parman said.
He said the board has reached out to district attorneys and the Washington County Board of Elections to understand what its options were.
“We wanted to take some time to reach out to our legal counsel as well as the Board of Elections office to make sure that we took steps forward to replace that empty seat appropriately,” Parman said.
He said the Board of Elections advised them there was a mandatory waiting period before the seat could be filled.
“The process is that you have to wait at least 10 days from the resignation before you fill that seat, and then you have to fill it within 30 days,” Parman said. “So there’s a 20-day window that we will likely have multiple special meetings in order to not only put together a plan to consider candidates, but to select one as well.”
Mandy Amos, director of the Board of Elections, said the deadline to turn in a petition to be placed on the November ballot for the three seats up for reelection is Aug. 6 at 4 p.m. Parman said this timeline also keeps Lehman’s seat from being placed on the ballot and will allow the board to select a replacement for the remaining two years left in his term.
Amos said those interested in being selected to fill Lehman’s term could also have their name placed on the November ballot for the other three seats as long as they turned in their petition by the Aug. 6 deadline. She said there is also an Aug. 25 deadline to be a write-in candidate.
Parman said since the announcement of Lehman’s resignation on Tuesday night there has been a lot of interest in filling that term.
“We’ve had several people reach out to the board to express interest in filling the remainder of his term, which would be two years on the board,” Parman said. “And we’re also aware that there have been several people who have already picked up packets to run for theMarietta City School Board election this coming fall, and have already collected the required amount of signatures.”
He encouraged any community members interested in the position to reach out to members of the board.
“Anyone is welcome to email any individual on the board, or the entire board, for that matter, if they would like to express interest in filling that seat,” Parman said. “At this point we are wide open because the board collectively has not met since our last regular meeting (Monday night), and so I would say we’re all ears at this point.”
He highlighted the positive response from the community and their interest in the board.
“I’m finding it very encouraging that people have started to email and reach out that they’re interested in filling that seat, because I think the more people that are interested in helping our schools succeed, the better,” Parman said. “So I’m just happy that the community is engaged and that there seems to be very competent people to select from to fill that role for us. It’s better to have too many names to choose from than not enough.”
Parman said newly hired superintendent Mary Schaeffer will play a role in the selection process.
“Her contract began Aug. 1, and we are absolutely thrilled to have her in our district,” Parman said. “She will be a critical part of this search process and replacement process, and we will definitely want her to be a part of those meetings. Heading forward, she’ll play a big role.”
Parman said the board anticipates holding additional special meetings as the process continues, with the goal of selecting the best candidate to serve the remainder of the term.
“I think our community is really wanting our schools to succeed, and it’s really important that we put in the right leadership right now for our schools,” Parman said. “Because we have begun to trend in the right direction as a school district, I believe, and we want to keep that momentum going now.”
Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com.