D49 board accepts director resignation, declares District 2 seat vacant

The El Paso County Colorado School District 49 Board on Monday accepted the resignation of Director Deb Schmidt and voted to declare a vacancy in Director District 2. The board voted to accept the resignation in a roll call after a motion from Director Thompson and a second from Director Withers; Director Schmidt was recorded absent.

Board members then discussed how to recruit and evaluate applicants for the vacant seat. They reviewed a candidate questionnaire used in a prior appointment process and trimmed questions they judged better handled in training or interviews. The board agreed to remove question two and a question about describing the board’s role, and to rephrase another question to ask candidates for “an example of when you’ve come to a decision through collaboration.”

Board President La Vere Wright said the goal of the revised packet is to keep the application concise to encourage responses while reserving substantive competency questions for the interview stage. Thompson moved to accept the resignation and to declare the vacancy; Withers seconded both motions. The motions passed with recorded ayes from the four members present.

The board set March 18 as the deadline for applications to preserve building‑level staff availability during parent‑teacher conferences and to give potential applicants a defined window to prepare. La Vere Wright said the district will post the vacancy and application packet online and asked staff to post the materials by the end of the next business day.

Next steps: staff will post the application packet and accept submissions through the March 18 deadline; the board will schedule interviews after reviewing the applicant pool.