Vallecitos School District seeks new board member for Trustee Area 5

The Vallecitos School District is seeking applicants for the Trustee Area 5 seat on the district board.

A 4-0 board vote, Tuesday, Jan. 12, approved the process for the appointment. Applications are due Wednesday, Jan. 27, and a special meeting, Monday, Feb. 1, will discuss candidates and potentially appoint a new board member. The district may also seek a waiver of the 60-day deadline to fill a vacancy, which would be required if no applicant expresses interest in the seat before the deadline.

In 2019, the district transitioned from at-large elections to elections by trustee area. The board members were allowed to keep their at-large seats until the expiration of their terms. The terms of Kathy McSorley and Kyle Wheeler ended in December 2020, but neither lives in one of the trustee areas subject to election in 2020. That created vacancies for Trustee Area 2 and Trustee Area 5.

Terese Kristensen filed for the Trustee Area 2 seat. Because she was the only candidate who filed, no election was needed. No candidate filed for the Area 5 seat before the deadline. The school district sought applicants for the Area 5 seat, and Maria Ortiz applied for the vacancy. She was chosen to fill the seat during the Oct. 13 school board meeting, but she has since moved out of Rainbow and submitted her resignation Dec. 3.

The Seat 5 trustee area is the western part of the district, and an applicant must be a registered voter in that trustee area. Because the term of the seat is from December 2020 to December 2024, the seat will be subject to election for a two-year term in November 2022 although the appointed incumbent may file for that two-year term if they desire.

The application form for the appointment can be found on the district's website, http://vallecitossd.net, and interested citizens may also pick up an application form at the school district office or request that a form be sent by United States Postal Service mail. The completed application must be received by 4 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 27; the applicant has the option of submitting the application by U.S. mail, by fax or by hand delivery to the school district office.

The Feb. 1 special meeting will allow for public comment. The applicant or applicants will be interviewed by the four current board members and will be allowed to give presentations. The board will discuss the applicant or applicants and may select one to fill the vacancy, in which case that board member will also be sworn in and seated during that meeting.

Section 5091 of the California Education Code stipulated that if the vacancy is not filled within 60 days the County Office of Education superintendent shall call an election to be held within 130 days after the election is ordered. If the vacancy is filled by an appointment of the school board within 60 days an election would also occur if a petition signed by at least 5% of the number of registered voters in the district is submitted to the County Office of Education within 30 days of the appointment.

Feb. 1 is also the 60-day deadline. The school district may request a waiver of that deadline.

"That will buy us some time," Linda Miller, business manager of Vallecitos School District, said.

The waiver is intended for situations such as a lack of applicants rather than for a deadlock. Leaving the seat open also creates the risk of a 2-2 vote.

"There's just no way to break a tie. That's extremely rare for this board," board president Michael Darnley said.

Darnley said that the district has historically been successful in filling vacancies.

"We've been getting some decent responses," he said.

Nearly all of those past vacancies, however, were filled when the district still had at-large trustees. The requirement that an applicant live in the trustee area may lead to the inability to fill that seat.

"If we're still having challenges, they may want us to change the structure to a three-member board," Miller said.

The Vallecitos School District board had three members before expanding to five trustees in 1986. Currently the Spencer Valley Elementary School District in Santa Ysabel is the only school district in San Diego County with a three-member board.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].