St. Paul school board plans special vote to fill resigned member's seat
Updated: 6:15 p.m. | Posted: 3:25 p.m.
The St. Paul school board called a special election Tuesday to replace a board member who resigned in June.
Board member Jean O'Connell resigned in protest of the board's decision to fire St. Paul Superintendent Valeria Silva. Remaining board members plan to hold a special election Nov. 8 to fill O'Connell's seat.
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In the meantime, the board plans to start an application process for an interim member. Applications will be accepted over the next week, and the board will conduct interviews August 2.
"Even if there's a relatively short period of time between this November date when the winner of the special election would take office, our understanding is that we still need to appoint someone," said board chair Jon Schumacher.
Schumacher says some potential candidates expressed interest when O'Connell resigned, but he's not sure how many will want the short-term interim job.
"It's possible that we're looking at a time frame of September before that person would actually take office," Schumacher said.
The winner of the special election will serve through the end of O'Connell's term in December 2017.