Byram Hills Accepting Letters of Interest From Residents for Board Vacancy
The Byram Hills Board of Education will be accepting letters of interest for the remainder of this week from community members who would like to fill the recently vacated board seat until the May election.
Board members reached consensus at their Jan. 18 meeting to open the process up to district residents interested in serving. They set a deadline for this Friday, Jan. 28 at 5 p.m. for anyone who wants to be considered to notify the board at boardofed@byramhills.net and/or District Clerk Kelly Seibert at kseibert@byramhills.net.
“Then on the 28th, depending on whether we have interest in the seat, then we can figure out the rest of the process from there and will, of course, notify all candidates who came forward of the rest of the process,” said Board President Scott Levy. “We can send out a questionnaire with questions to ask, which would be a reasonable thing to do. There are a number of things we can do just from a process standpoint.”
The board could appoint the replacement member as soon as its next meeting on Feb. 8.
Other options that had been open to the board was to either hold a special election or to leave the seat vacant until the May election. However, holding an election would cost the district money and could have delayed the process because of petitioning and notification requirements. Keeping the seat vacant and operating with six members until the next election also wasn’t preferred with the board soon to start its 2022-23 budget deliberations.
The vacancy was created with the resignation of 23-year member Ira Schulman, who was elected North Castle town justice in November. His resignation took effect Dec. 31 before he took his seat in the local court.
In other business, the board also approved the re-assignment of Wampus Elementary School Principal Margaret McInerney to Coman Hill Elementary School effective July 1. She will be taking over the helm at the K-2 Coman Hill, a role filled this year by Interim Principal Karen Eldon.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jen Lamia thanked McInerney making the switch and for her versatility in the district over the years. She has also served as an assistant principal and as an assistant to the superintendent.
“Parents, kids, teachers, everybody is going to be so happy that you’re going to be doing that and going to Coman Hill and I really feel that you have really set up the leadership at Wampus to be very successful, and I can’t thank you enough for your flexibility in this district and doing what this district needs,” Lamia said.
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