Board meets in executive session to discuss who will replace departing members

By Lauren Young

Staff writer

Two members of the J-D Board of Education, including the board president, have resigned from their seats — but no reasons were publicly given and the issue of who or how to replace them was not discussed publicly but was done in executive session.

The resignations of school board president Mark Schulman and board member Patrick Brown were made on Oct. 24 and Nov. 3, respectively, although they were not discussed in open session during the school board’s Nov. 5 meeting, according to the meeting minutes.

The resignation of board member Dr. Dana Corcoran was discussed on Nov. 5, however, and a replacement for her unanimously approved by the board that night when Angela Tyson was appointed to fill the vacant seat until June 2019. Tyson was present at the Nov. 5 meeting and took the oath of office that night.

Replacing Schulman and Brown, however, will apparently be more difficult.

During the board’s Nov. 19 meeting, Superintendent Alice Kendrick said potential candidates would be discussed during executive session that night, and the board will disclose how the vacancies will be filled at its next meeting on Dec. 3.

Until then, BOE Vice President Virginia Murphy is serving as acting president.

“The board has two options to fill these vacancies,” said Kendrick. “The board can appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy until the next election,” or the board can hold a special election within 90 days of both resignations in search of someone to serve the remaining terms for either candidates, she said.

Parent Josh King, who previously ran for a seat on the board during its last election, asked during the Nov. 19 meeting why a board member was chosen at the last meeting and not this one, suggesting instead that the board appoint the fourth and fifth place candidates from the last election, which includes King and former board member Michelle Kielbasinski.

“The community has already spoken — we need to go with the fourth and fifth candidates from the previous election, or we need to run another election,” said King. “It’s been far too long that an imbalance of power has existed on this board.”

Schulman’s term expires in 2021, while Brown’s expires in 2019.

The next election is slated for May 21, 2019.

Schulman, who served on the board for nine years, was reelected to another term at the last election on May 15, 2018 after receiving 606 votes, the largest number of votes obtained of the seven other candidates running. He was the second most senior member of the board.

Schulman did not respond to requests for comment as to why he resigned his seat.

Brown, who has served on the school board for five-and-a-half years, said his resignation was “something I had been considering for a while due to changes and time constraints of my current occupation and due to some health issues of members of my family. After long and careful consideration, I felt I was not able to give my full attention to this very important task as I had in the past, especially at this time.”

These three resignations, coming within 30 days of one another, also come at a time of discord between the board and the students and parents of the district. For months residents have demanded better communication and more transparency from the school board on a host of issues ranging from simple community concerns to the larger issue of alleged bullying and verbal abuse of students by teachers in the district.