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ROARING SPRING -- With only one Spring Cove School District resident applying to fill a board vacancy, the school board plans to interview them at the voting meeting on Oct. 19.
School officials still have until Oct. 21 -- 30 days since former member Kevin Smith resigned from the board -- to fill the vacancy before a minimum of 10 taxpayers can file a petition with the Court of Common Pleas for the court to appoint a new member instead.
According to acting Superintendent Steven Foor, he received the application Monday before noon, which was the slated deadline.
The candidate, who wasn't present for the committee of the whole meeting, will have two minutes to make an opening statement before the board president asks the candidate a set of questions.
Standard questions included in the district's Board Vacancy Policy 004 recommend that the board ask potential candidates what skills they can bring to the board, what challenges the district is facing and what challenges are plaguing public education today.
Once the candidate answers the questions, the board will publicly deliberate about the candidate before voting to fill the seat.
If the vote is split, solicitor Jennifer Dambeck said she will ask the board to vote again until the board has a majority vote.
If the board rejects the candidate, then current board members can also suggest a qualified person living in the district to fill the vacancy, without the candidate being present at the meeting. If a majority of the board approves that suggested resident, then they will be voted in.
"Most districts don't do it this way because you have to have the public talk about who you're going to nominate," she said.
She said the board can also reject the candidate and not have any suggested potential member. They can elect a board member on day 32 at a public meeting, but Dambeck said, "It's a race against who gets to the courthouse first."
"After those 30 days to fill the board vacancy closes, anybody in the community who is a district resident or taxpayer can petition to the Blair County court," she said.
However, Dambeck said there isn't enough time after the voting meeting on Oct. 19 for the board to schedule a special meeting before Oct. 21, as they must elect a new board member at a public meeting.
"Realistically, you want to fill it that night because otherwise, there's not enough time to advertise for a special board meeting," she said.
All board members except Alyssa McGregor were present at Monday's meeting.
Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.