Vallecitos soliciting applicants for Trustee Area 5 seat appointment

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The Vallecitos School District needs to fill a vacancy for the Trustee Area 5 board seat and is seeking residents who are interested in being appointed to the school board seat.

Melissa Cox had been the Trustee Area 5 board member since October 2021, but she resigned Thursday, March 9, for family reasons. The Tuesday, March 14, Vallecitos School District board meeting included a 4-0 vote to approve the provisional appointment process to fill the vacancy.

“We are accepting applications,” Meliton Sanchez, superintendent of Vallecitos School District, said.

Applications to fill the vacancy are available in the Vallecitos School District office. Trustee Area 5 is in the western part of the district, and an applicant must be a registered voter in that trustee area.

The other Vallecitos School District board members will conduct interviews of the candidates at a future board meeting before selecting the new trustee.

“If we have a sufficient number of candidates we will hopefully take action at the April 11 meeting,” Sanchez said.

Section 5091 of the California Education Code stipulates that if the vacancy is not filled within 60 days the San Diego County Office of Education superintendent shall call an election to be held within 130 days after the election is ordered, so the seat must be filled by Monday, May 8, unless the school district requests a waiver of that deadline. A special meeting can be called to approve the provisional appointment.

The term of the seat is from December 2020 to December 2024, and the appointed board member is eligible to run for a full term in the November 2024 election.

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