No hopefuls for OKC board seat
An empty seat on the Oklahoma City School Board remains vacant, as the state's largest school district has yet to receive any applications for the position.
The board extended the application deadline to Nov. 20 for the District 7 seat. The position was declared empty Oct. 9 after board member Jace Kirk resigned.
District 7 covers much of the southeast part of the district and a portion of southwest Oklahoma City. Many of the schools in the area are majority Hispanic.
Board Chairwoman Paula Lewis said she was concerned with the lack of applications but confident the school district could find someone to appoint.
“Fifty-two percent of our kids reside on the south side of I-40,” Lewis said. “I would like them to have a voice as we move forward in this reinvention of OKCPS.”
Kirk and board member Gloria Torres, who represents much of southwest Oklahoma City, have been trying to find applicants for the position, Lewis said. The board has also contacted state legislators representing the area to help identify potential applicants.
The board has until Dec. 8 to interview each applicant and appoint one of them to the seat.
A person appointed to the position would remain in office until the 2021 school board election. The candidate who wins the school board election would finish the remainder of the seat's unexpired term, ending in February 2022.
If no applications are submitted by Dec. 8, the board will have to call for a special election in District 7. Only candidates living in that district could run for the board seat, and only residents of the area could vote.
On Sept. 9, Kirk announced he was moving out of his district and would have to resign. His new home in between Moore and Norman disqualified him from serving on the board.
Kirk and his wife decided to buy a home down the street from his parents' house, causing him to end his tenure on the board after a year and eight months.
“It's something we've been talking about doing for maybe in a couple of years, but an opportunity came and was too hard to pass up,” Kirk said the day he submitted his resignation. “Really sad to have to resign, but I won't be living in District 7 any longer.”