By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
The Burlington Area School District Board of Education will have a pool of five candidates from which to fill a vacancy this coming Monday evening.
With a deadline of noon Monday, the district received five applications to fill the spot that Larry Anderson will vacate as of Nov. 10.
The five candidates are former School Board member Susan Kessler, former candidates Jim Berndt and Barry Schmaling, Patricia Reda and Kristine Gahlke-Lairy.
The board also further defined the selection process Monday at the same board meeting used to certify the tax levy for this school year.
Board President Jim Bousman said he had looked over the voting procedures the board had outlined at the previous meeting, and thought there were too many “rough edges” for the voting to work.
Bousman proposed a number of changes, starting with allowing School Board members to vote for whoever they wanted, rather than waiting for three names to be nominated.
He suggested that all five names be placed on a ballot in alphabetical order, and then the first vote be taken.
If one person has a simple majority – at least four votes – that person will win the spot. There will be just six board members voting, as Anderson is not allowed to participate.
That change was accepted unanimously.
For the second ballot, if no one is clearly elected the first time, Bousman proposed limiting the voting to only those who received votes. He also suggested that board members explain why they voted for whom they did – there can be no secret ballots – but School Board Member Rosanne Hahn protested. Fellow member Phil Ketterhagen said it would be like board members “campaigning” for a candidate.
Instead, a second round of questions would be allowed, and that received unanimous approval along with the second round of voting. Again, a majority would win.
If the ballot goes to a third round and no one receives a majority, the board agreed they would close discussion for the night. The idea of then leaving it empty until the April elections might also then be discussed.
The board also unanimously approved picking the names out of a hat to determine the speaking order for three-minute opening statements and then questions from the board.
Bousman did make one other statement – that no board members would be allowed to solicit votes for any given candidate. Board Vice President Bill Campbell argued that wasn’t against the law, while Bousman felt it was.
Campbell deferred, saying, “you’re the president, you make the rules.”
The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, at the BASD District Office.
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