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News
School district board vacancy next month? : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisSchool district board vacancy next month?
| Former president Cullick to depart if voters elect her to the county board
| by Lyle R. Rolfe
| 10/18/2012
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The Oswego School District Board may lose one of its long-time members and a former board president in the Nov. 6 election.
Lynn Cullick, first elected to the board in 2005, is a candidate for the Kendall County Board in next month's election and has a good chance of winning, if past elections are any indication.
Cullick is one of five Republican candidates seeking election to five open seats in the County Board's District 2
Republicans are challenged by four Democratic Party candidates.
However, only one Democratic candidate has ever been elected to the county board in the county's 171 year history-Elizabeth Flowers of Montgomery in 2008.
Cullick's present term on the school board will be up in April along with three other board members.
If she wins the county board position, Cullick would be sworn in as a board member in December. At that time, she would have to resign from the school board.
If she resigns, Bill Walsh, school board president, could leave the position open through the April 9 election, slightly more than four months after Cullick's resignation. Or, Walsh could name someone else to the position, provided they would receive a majority vote of the board.
Walsh has several alternatives on how he could fill the position if he feels he should do so.
He could ask the other board members to submit names of persons they know are interested in serving, or he could ask district residents who might be interested in serving, to apply for the vacancy.
If Walsh did either of these, he could ask the board members to vote on who they would like to see fill the vacancy and go with the person who has the most votes.
He also has the choice of choosing a former board member who might be interested in filling the vacancy, which was done twice in the past few years.
Walsh could also choose someone who ran as a candidate in the last board election in 2011.
But whoever Walsh may propose as a replacement must receive a majority vote of the board to serve.
When asked how he plans to handle the situation if Cullick is elected to the county board, Walsh said in an email: "The board has been and continues to be prepared to address and properly act upon any and all issues that are presented to the board. Sincerely, Bill Walsh."
Walsh declined to comment further.
In October 2008, board member Andrew Wood announced he was resigning from the school board because of his job. He had been elected in April 2005 and would have been up for re-election in April 2009.
Eight people applied to fill his vacancy after he announced his resignation.
The board went nearly six months with only six members before Joseph Guinnane, who served two terms on the board, was sworn in Dec. 15, 2008 to serve through the April 2009 election. He was seeking his third term on the board in April 2005 when he lost the election.
When Wood resigned, then-school board president Andrew Young asked for names of residents interested in serving during the interim through the April election.
Eight people submitted their applications, but Guinnane was not one of them.
Two applicants were chosen for interviews by the board-Mike Scaramuzzi and Sue Bertrand, both members of Young's school district growth, facilities and enrollment committee.
Because the six board members were unable to break a 3-3 deadlock on whom to appointment, they passed the 45 days during which time they were required by state law to fill the vacancy.
This transferred the responsibility to then-Regional Superintendent of Schools, Paul Nordstrom. Because he knew nothing about either candidate and the deadlock could not be broken, he suggested Young see if a possible former board member might be wiling to serve during the interim.
Young contacted Guinnane, who also was a member of the growth, facilities and enrollment committee and asked if he would be willing to do so.
Guinnane being asked was a surprise to Scaramuzzi and Bertrand, but both said they would like Guinnane to continue serving on the committee with them.
Scaramuzzi was elected to the board in April 2009 and is up for re-election next April.
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