No one wants to fill vacancy on Interboro School Board
PROSPECT PARK » Time is running out for the Interboro School Board to fill a vacancy before the matter goes to court.
Following the Dec. 20 resignation of Michael Burns, the board had 30 days to select his replacement to serve Glenolden, Region 1. With Jan. 19 marking the 30th day, no one has been selected — quite simply because there have been no letters of interest from prospective candidates submitted to board President William Phelps as of Jan. 17.
District resident Phyllis Floyd asked the board at last Wednesday’s meeting how the process was going to go forward with filling the vacancy with no interested candidates and the clock running out to make a selection before the courts potentially decide. The board met with Solicitor Gabrielle Goham after the meeting to discuss options.
To remedy this, the board posted on the district website Thursday that it will now consider any interested candidates from all of Glenolden for a one-time atlarge term that will expire in December 2019.
Even when the board begins to consider any candidates past its 30-day timeframe, that process will cease if the county Court of Common Pleas approves even one petition signed by at least 10 people to consider a certain candidate.
“As soon as the court receives and approves of a petition to fill a vacancy, the board no longer has the authority to fill the seat, even if the board is in the process of reviewing applications,” said Steve Robinson, director of communications for the Pennsylvania School Board of Association. Robinson added that the board may continue to try to fill a vacancy if no petitions are filed.
The move to make the Region 1 seat at-large for the remainder of the term left by Burns goes against how the membership of the board is presently determined. No seats are at large in the district municipalities of Glenolden, Norwood, Prospect Park and Tinicum, but each is composed of two regional seats made up of a certain number of precincts within those boroughs. Since Glenolden is the biggest, it has region seats 1, 2 and 3.
Goham could not be reached for comment Thursday to address the at–large classification and how it would affect the candidate’s potential to run for election if they do not live in region 1.
Burns, a Republican, was halfway through his first term on the board when he was elected in November to be magisterial judge for the district court of Glenolden and Norwood.