School board members had to jump through some legal hoops to ensure that they are seven strong through the summer. This year, one of the seats up for grabs carried only a partial term, because the member elected to serve resigned early. That’s usually simple enough: whoever was appointed to do that work through the election is replaced by an elected member immediately, rather than waiting for the new school year to start in July. Any full terms are granted to the candidates who received the most votes, and the candidate with the next highest total gets to complete the unexpired term.
This year there were three terms expiring, meaning that the candidate in fourth place gets to ride out the time first given to Sophia Skiles, who resigned in December. However, coming in fourth in this year’s election was incumbent Diana Armstead. No one person can have two votes, therefore some shuffling ensued. Armstead resigned from the current seat, for which the term expires in July, in order to take over Skiles’, which was kept warm by appointee Matthew Williams. As Armstead’s former seat was thus left vacant, trustees appointed Williams to serve out the remainder of that term, at which point Heather O’Donnell and Johanna Herget will begin their service.
Before you click away... 
