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Board majority backs petition to reduce Siren School Board from seven to five members; concerns about representation voiced
Summary
Board members voted to pursue a citizen petition to reduce board membership from seven to five, beginning signature collection; supporters cited difficulty filling ballots, while others raised concerns about representation, quorums and tie votes.
The Siren School District board discussed a proposal to reduce its size from seven members to five and voted to move forward with collecting the required petition signatures.
Board members described the petition process: proponents said the change requires collecting 100 valid signatures from district residents and adoption at the annual meeting; two seats would be eliminated across subsequent election cycles. Supporters argued reducing the number of seats could ease the challenge of filling ballot positions. Opponents raised concerns that a smaller board could reduce representation and increase the likelihood of tie votes and quorum issues in committee work.
A motion was made and seconded to begin the petition process and collect signatures; the board recorded the motion as carried and directed that signature-collection proceed. The board discussed implementation details including how committees might operate under five members and whether additional outreach would be needed to secure petition signatures.
Because some comments in the transcript are not clearly attributable to a specific speaker on the record, direct quotes attributing concerns are reported as unattributed board commentary rather than assigned to a named member.
