The Ketchikan School District seal on display at the superintendent’s office. (KRBD file photo by Leila Kheiry)
Ketchikan’s school board is set to consider 10 applications for a vacant school board seat Thursday. The board voted last week to briefly reopen applications for the open seat after an initial two-week call for applications attracted only one candidate.
According to Ketchikan’s school board clerk, the candidates are Van Abbott, Jack Finnegan, Douglas Gregg, Rushcelle Hull, Nicole Linn, Charlene Meeks, James North, Deborah Simon, Jacob Dean Trumble and Christine Willis.
The candidates’ applications, including their answers to a questionnaire asking why they’d like to join the board, are posted at the school board’s website.
The board is scheduled to publicly interview the applicants Thursday evening at a special school board meeting.
Former Ketchikan school board president Trevor Shaw was the only candidate to apply to fill the seat during the original application period. But his name was not included on the list of candidates published by the school board Wednesday. Shaw didn’t answer a call or text message Wednesday asking whether he had withdrawn.
The vacancy opened last month after the board’s former vice president, Sonya Skan, stepped down, citing medical issues. School board bylaws say a replacement must be appointed within 30 days. The candidate appointed to fill the vacancy will serve through this October’s municipal elections and would be eligible to run for re-election.
Ketchikan’s school board will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday in Ketchikan’s Borough Assembly chambers. The meeting and candidate interviews will be live-streamed at the borough’s website and broadcast on local cable channels. Public comment will be heard at the beginning of the meeting.
