St. Francis Area Schools to fill board vacancy; interim appointment planned before November special election

The St. Francis Area Schools Board of Education acknowledged a resignation and agreed on a process to appoint an interim board member ahead of a special election scheduled for November.

The board said Andrea Hansen’s resignation created an official vacancy effective June 6, 2025. District staff and board members said they will appoint an interim member to fill the seat until a special election in November, and they will present information about the special election and candidate filing periods at the next board meeting. A board member said, “At the next board meeting, we will also present information about the actual, special election as well as candidate filing periods.”

Board members and staff discussed the application process and public outreach. The board set an application deadline — discussed in the meeting as June 18 at 3 p.m. — and agreed to distribute applications to board members for review before making an appointment at the June 23 meeting. District staff said the initial promotion plan relies on word-of-mouth and social media; staff also said they would attempt to meet newspaper deadlines if required.

The board noted the need to post application materials as public documents and to make the timeline broad enough to encourage applicants. A board member said the district would “maximize” the amount of time an appointed interim member would have on the board before the election. The board also discussed keeping three polling places as part of the resolution passed two years earlier and whether to hand-count a small local election to reduce costs.

Board members did not identify the interim appointee at the meeting. The board directed staff to finalize the application posting and to return with the candidate review and appointment at the June 23 meeting.