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The Lansing Board of Education accepted the resignation of board member Betsy Galvin Monday, leaving the board at six members.  Members discussed options for filling the seat for the remainder of the three year term.  While board members intially leaned toward appointing a new member immediately, when it came to a vote they decided not to fill the position until the May election.  

Board President David Dittman and member Christine Iacobucci's terms are up this summer.  Dittman says he will not run again, and Iacobucci says she has not yet decided.  That means that the district could be faced with finding at least three new candidates in May.  Board Vice President Glenn Swanson said that could be a problem because of the difficulty in getting people to run, noting that Aziza Benson won her first term in 2009 with 90 write-in votes because Anne Drake was the only candidate in the electon for two vacant seats.

But Swanson also noted that the board has important business to do in the remainder of this school year, including crafting a budget, contact negotiations, and hiring a permanent superintendent for the district.  He said that if the board were to appoint a new member the ideal person would be a former board member.  But some board members said appointing a new member would distract the board from these important issues.

Acting Superintendent Chris Pettograsso noted that an appointee would only serve in five board meetings before the election, one designated as a training session and the fifth being the night of the 2013-2014 budget vote.  Board members worried that an appointee may not have enough time to get up to speed in that time before the important vote. 

"I don't want to spend a lot of time on this process," said board member Tom Robinson.  "We know it's a temporary position.  I say keep it simple.  We are talking about four or five months of service."

After the election the person elected to fill the position would be seated immediately after the election, while those elected to full terms would be seated in July.  That seemed to influence some board members to favor waiting for the election to allow the board to concentrate on major challenges the district is facing.  That would also give the decision back to the voters.


School board elections pit a pool of candidates against each other.  Candidates with the highest number of votes win available seats.  With two regular terms ending this summer, the person with the third highest number of votes will fill the remainder of Galvin's term, then have the opportunity to run for a full term again next year.

"It's interesting that the person with the lowest number of votes gets on the board before the people with the higher number of votes," noted Swanson.  But he said the early seating of the replacement member would be helpful in getting district business done during vacation months.  "We sometimes have issues with getting a quorum."

Benson said the board should be proactive in getting new candidates to run.  State education law requires candidates to be at least 18 years old, a U.S. citizen, a regitered voter, and to be able to read and write.  Candidates must have lived in the school district for at least one year, may not have been removed from any district office in the past 12 months, may not live with another school board member, and may not hold another public office that is incompatible with their service on the school board.  Elections are held in May, along with the annual budget vote.

School Board President David Dittman moved to leave the position vacant.  The board voted 5-1 to leave it vacant, with Benson dissenting.

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