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Board accepts Christie Ryan's resignation; president authorized to seek interim replacement or open application process
Summary
Bennington Public Schools' board accepted the resignation of board member Christie Ryan and authorized the board president to seek an interim replacement, with a public application fallback if no volunteer is identified.
Bennington Public Schools' board accepted the resignation of board member Christie Ryan at its May 12 meeting after she moved outside district boundaries.
Legal counsel Justin advised the board on the statutory process for filling school board vacancies, citing the applicable law for school board vacancies ("32-570" as stated in the meeting). He explained that the board has 45 days after publishing the required notice to appoint a qualified district resident to fill the remainder of the term; if the board does not appoint within that period, county officials can call an election at the district's expense.
The board voted to accept Ryan's resignation and to authorize the board president to approach a former board member (identified in the meeting as a candidate the board wished to contact) to determine interest in serving as an interim appointee and to present any willing candidate to the full board for consideration at the June meeting. The motion included a fallback: if the identified person is not willing, the superintendent and board president were authorized to develop and distribute an application and conduct an interview process with interested residents; interviews and any appointment must occur in open session under the Open Meetings Act.
The board also appointed Steve as board secretary effective immediately and named Joe as the board's liaison to the Bennington Public Schools Foundation.
Why it matters: The appointed replacement will serve the remainder of Christie Ryan's term (the board was told the unexpired portion is about 18 months). The board and counsel discussed tradeoffs between appointing a known candidate quickly (which avoids the cost of a special election) and opening a public application/interview process that gives the broader community a chance to be considered.
Action and votes: The resignation acceptance, the authorization to approach a named candidate and the contingency application process passed by roll call. The board also voted to name Steve secretary and to designate Joe as the foundation liaison.
