School board looking for a member

It could be you

The Gunnison RE1J School District has set the stage for appointing a member of the community to the unclaimed seat on the Board of Education.

Three seats on the board will open up in November, but there won’t be an election to fill them since none of the seats were contested. For the third time in six years, the district withdrew from this year’s election due to a lack of interested candidates.
Current board member Jim Perkins chose to retake his seat as an at-large representative from south of Round Mountain and Lee Olesen will replace board president MJ Vosburg as the representative from north of Round Mountain. But no one stepped forward to take the seat being left by Dr. Terri Wenzlaff, an at-large representative from south of Round Mountain.
 So at a regular meeting on Monday, September 14, the school board took the first steps toward filling the two-year term by declaring the vacancy and deciding how to advertise the position. They also had to agree to appoint someone to the seat themselves rather than leave the responsibility to the incoming board.
“Should a new board be seated and then make the appointment or does this board make the appointment? That’s one of the big questions we have to decide tonight,” Vosburg told the board.
Board member Bill Powell was the first to jump in with a position, saying, “I think this board ought to do the appointment… I think we have an understanding of where the district is and the direction it is heading.”
It was the voice of consensus as the other board members offered their rationale for making the appointment themselves, which stayed close to Powell’s point of understanding the dynamics of the district.
With a motion and a unanimous vote, the school board elected to take on the task of appointing a member to the vacant seat themselves.
The new board members will be sworn in at a regular meeting on November 9. People who are interested in the board position have to fill out an application and appear for an interview by the current board on October 28.
So far, district business manager Stephanie Juneau said no one has spoken to her about possibly filling the vacant seat. The deadline for returning applications to the business office is October 21.
If the application deadline passes without anyone filling one out, the school board will proceed with the appointment of a community member.
“There’s no option to consider an extension,” Juneau said. “State statute requires there be an appointment and the board will appoint someone to the position at their meeting November 9.”
For more information about the board vacancy or to pick up an application, visit the district business office or call 641-7760.