POTTSTOWN >> The Pottstown school board is really hoping that three will be the charm.
Once again, another candidate has emerged from the depths of the spam folder of the Pottstown School District email server.
One day after the school board interviewed what they thought were the only two people to apply – one of whom, Bonita Barnhill, had her application rescued from the spam folder earlier in the week – a third applicant has emerged from the same deep hole.
John Armato confirmed, which the a certain amount of institutional chagrin, that yes, a second application had been lost in cyber space and recovered only after the applicant contacted the district to ask why she had not been interviewed.
“Even prior to this we had begun to explore whether our current email service is satisfying our communication needs,” Armato said meekly by way of explanation.
The third candidate is Susan Lawrence of Clearview Street.
Armato said she is a 1978 graduate of Pottstown High School and had submitted her letter of interest on Sept. 23, the same day the administration published a legal notice asking interested residents to apply.
The revelation of her interest creates a bit of a pickle for the school board.
Thursday night, the board interviewed Barnhill and Marissa Bush, thinking them the only two candidates to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Andrew Kefer.
Both candidates answered an identical set of questions, and the board discussed the candidates after the interviews, but decided to hold off making a decision because two board members – Amy Francis and Ron Williams – were absent.
The plan had been to make a decision between the two at the Oct. 24 school board meeting. At that same meeting, a new vice president must also be chosen.
But while there is nothing in the school code that requires the board to interview applicants, it doesn’t seem fair not to offer Lawrence the same interview opportunity as Barnhill and Bush enjoyed, Armato said.
The solution upon which the district has settled, he said, will be to conduct a public interview with Lawrence on Thursday, Oct. 20 at 6:30 p.m. in the Pottstown High School Library.
After that, the public will be kicked out.
That’s because although that Thursday night is usually when the board holds its very public but sparsely attended committee-of-the-whole meeting, it instead has been scheduled as a private “workshop meeting” – apparently with the goal of trying to get the board to work together in greater harmony.
Why such a meeting cannot occur in public remains unclear.
All of this began last month when Kefer announced his resigned because he and his family moved out of state.
As solicitor Stephen Kalis explained, whomever the board selects to replace him will serve until the board reorganizes in December of 2017.
After that, the seat will be considered open and the two years remaining on Kefer’s term will be filled by whomever wins the spring 2017 primary and fall 2017 election.
The person winning that election will serve until December 2019.
Kalis, who conducted the interviews for the board, said to be selected, a candidate must earn five votes of the board.
Complicating matters is the fact that board member Emanuel Wilkerson, who was present for the interviews Thursday night, will not be present when the voting does occur on Oct. 24.
As a result – assuming the rest of the board members are present – there will be only seven board members from which the five necessary votes must be culled.
At board member Thomas Hylton’s suggestion, the board intends to proceed on Oct. 24 as it did for selecting a school board president. A motion will be made to appoint a new board member and the votes will consist of each board member naming their choice.
But in the case of a 4-3 vote, neither candidate will have earned five votes, and the old method of nominating a single person and trying to attract five “ayes” will be put into play.
