Dem sought to serve on board

Council seeking to fill vacancy on Valparaiso School Board

The Valparaiso City Council has opened the application process for appointing a new member to the Valparaiso School Board, emphasizing the body’s guiding resolution dictates applicants for this vacancy cannot be Republican, since currently three of the four

City Council appointees already represent the Republican Party.

“The applications became available online on Feb. 27, and I want to preface, based upon the resolution we have in place that guides this process, and based on the makeup of our current school board members, individuals applying need to be associated with the Democratic Party, because we cannot have a super majority,” said City Council Member Diana Reed, D-1st, who serves as the council liaison for Valparaiso schools.

The opening is to fill the board seat of Jennifer Bognar, the current president of the school board, who will be completing her four-year term. Vice president is Kurt Minko, and Rob Behrend is secretary. The newest members are Erika Watkins, appointed in 2021, and Jon Costas, the latter who began his appointed term last summer.

The application is available at: www.ci.valparaiso.in.us/978/

School-Board-Member-Appointment-Process

Applications are due by noon on April 21, and the council will begin interviewing the first round of applicants at 5 p.m. May 1 at Valparaiso City Hall. If four or fewer applications are received, all applicants will be interviewed. If more than four applications are received, the city council has the option to meet to select the four applicants to be interviewed.

Prior to the council interviews, all applicants will receive questions that will be asked at the first interview. All provided questions are the same for each, with the exception if an applicant is an incumbent school board member, with the latter receiving modified questions to reflect the applicant’s current role on the school board.

Each of the interviews will be 25 minutes, with council members also allowed to ask one follow-up question if time permits.

Applicants must be at least 21 years old and must live within Valparaiso city limits, with state

statute requiring that the Valparaiso School Board must have at least one member from each political party. “Party affiliation” is determined by the last primary in which the applicant voted. The term of appointment for the new member is four years.

“We will once again have the public submit questions, those are due by noon May 8 for consideration for use in the second round of interviews at 5 p.m. May 15 at Valparaiso City Hall,” Reed said.

Valparaiso City Attorney Patrick Lyp said the panel and interview portion during the second round of interviews will be limited to 90 minutes, with guidelines still to be determined for applicants’ allowed response time. Council President Casey Schmidt, R-3rd, will moderate the panel, and Lyp will ask the questions to the applicants.

After a 10-minute recess following the second round of interviews, council members will reconvene to appoint a school board member with each council member voting for one name for consideration on a ballot. After Lyp counts the ballots, if there is a majority vote for one candidate, the name of the candidate is nominated and seconded, with discussion following about the merits of the candidate. Following discussion, a vote will be taken, and the selection made.

If there is no majority vote for the candidate, according to the guiding procedure, a council member can then make a motion to consider two candidates. After discussion, a motion to select one candidate will be made and seconded with additional discussion followed by a final vote.