The St. Paul school board will appoint a two-month replacement for board member Jean O’Connell before voters in November fill the vacancy for the remainder of her term.
O’Connell resigned last month after the board voted 5-2 to fire Superintendent Valeria Silva without cause.
Nancy Cameron, the school district’s general counsel, said the law requires the board to fill the vacancy by appointment before holding a special election Nov. 8.
Board member John Brodrick wanted to ignore that advice, saying that leaving the board’s seventh seat open “would be the most logical thing to do.”
Whoever is elected Nov. 8 will take office at the following meeting and serve out O’Connell’s term, through the end of 2017.
Board member Steve Marchese said he is leery of appointing anyone who also will be a candidate in November.
“We’re going to have an election very quickly, and I’d be concerned about the perception that the board is hand-picking” its preferred candidate, he said during a special board meeting Tuesday.
For past vacancies, school boards have disqualified applicants because they were running for election. But the board Tuesday decided against such a move, partly because it might limit the pool of possible appointees.
The board will accept applications online until 5 p.m. July 22.
Each board member will pick two to be interviewed Aug. 2, but if fewer than six apply, all will be interviewed.
Each finalist will give a six-minute presentation and answer questions for 10 minutes before the board makes its selection.
That person will take office Sept. 1 unless a group of residents petitions to reject the appointment.
The St. Paul DFL Party will hold an endorsing convention Aug. 13 to pick its preferred candidate for the special election. The party’s four picks in April 2015 all went on to win seats last November.
SUPERINTENDENT VACANCY
The board Tuesday heard a pitch from the state’s mediation bureau, which wants to help pick the next superintendent and address some of the school district’s broader disputes.
Mariah Levison of the Bureau of Mediation Services’ Office of Collaboration and Dispute Resolution said that when she learned of Silva’s firing last month, she figured the district could use her help. She and the Mitchell Hamline School of Law’s Dispute Resolution Institute have a grant to address equity issues.
Levison said she could help work with the school board and various other stakeholders to identify what the community wants in a superintendent.
When that’s done, she said, the relationships will be in place to take on broader issues of school climate, discipline and safety.
Board chair Jon Schumacher said the board has been talking about how to better engage the community.
“When this process is done, I think it will take us a long way toward that,” he said.
Other board members were less sure they needed the outside help.
Brodrick wanted assurance the board wouldn’t be relinquishing the authority to pick the school district’s next leader.
“It’s input for you to make your decision,” Levison said.
The board didn’t decide Tuesday whether to take the offer. If it does pursue a relationship, Levison would check in with the teachers union and other stakeholders to make sure they like the idea, too.
Levison said the work of identifying what the community wants wouldn’t be done until around February.