Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Howells selected to Vallecitos school board vacancy

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Chris Howells was selected to fill the vacant Trustee Area 1 seat on the Vallecitos School District board.

During the Feb. 14 Vallecitos school board meeting, all four of the other board members approved placing Howells on the seat. The term of the seat is from December 2022 to December 2026; the seat will be subject to election for a two-year term in November 2024 and Howells may run for that two-year term if he desires.

“I’m just really excited to start working with him,” said Vallecitos School District Superintendent Meliton Sanchez.

In June 2019, the Vallecitos board transitioned trustee elections from at-large to by trustee area. The board members were allowed to keep their at-large seats until the expiration of their terms. The at-large trustees elected in 2018 who were allowed to keep their seats until the end of 2022 included Sally Forester, who announced her resignation in August 2021 due to moving out of the district.

In October 2021, the Vallecitos board appointed Heather Reinhardt to that at-large seat. Reinhart does not live in Trustee Area 1, so she completed her term in December 2022 and left the school board. No candidate filed for the Area 1 seat in the November 2022 election.

Trustee Area 1 is in the north central part of the district and is on both sides of Interstate 15. The district sought applicants for the vacancy, and Howells applied.

Although Howells has only lived in Rainbow for two years, he is a Vallecitos Elementary School parent and is the treasurer of the school’s parent-teacher organization. Sanchez has worked with Howells due to Howells’ parent-teacher organization involvement. “I expect great things,” Sanchez said.

 

Reader Comments(0)