ASHLAND — The Ashland City Schools Board of Education unanimously approved a change to its policy for filling board vacancies Monday.
The change strikes a point from the policy — policy 0145 — that stated the board “shall interview all interested candidates” who apply to fill a board vacancy.
Moving forward, the board does not have to interview all candidates who apply to fill a vacancy. Supt. Steve Paramore clarified the change doesn’t apply to elections.
“What happens is that (interviewing every candidate) becomes overly cumbersome, especially when the board has done some general revision through any of the materials that potential candidates have given,” Paramore said.
“The board has the right to look through those and then decide who they’re going to interview when filling a vacancy.”
Anybody can file to run for a school board seat when the seat is up for election.
The policy change only covers a situation when a board member leaves in the middle of a term for any reason. The board still has to do the following to fill a vacancy, according to policy 0145:
- The Board shall seek qualified and interested candidates from the community through the news media, word-of-mouth, and contacts with appropriate organizations.
- All applicants are to submit a notice of their interest, in writing, to the Board President.
Pam Mowry, the board’s vice president, told Ashland Source the change isn’t an effort to dissuade anybody from applying for the board in the event of future vacancies. Rather, it’s an attempt to give the board discretion over how many candidates to interview after vetting their respective qualifications.
For example, if a candidate applies that the board knows would have a conflict of interest, Mowry said the board might choose not to interview them.
“We are a transparent board,” Mowry said. “This is not some intent of masking transparency.”
What are the requirements a board must follow when filling a vacancy?
The changed policy still falls in line with state law.
According to an Ohio School Boards Association fact sheet on filling a vacancy, “There are no procedural requirements other than the time deadlines for board action.”
Those time deadlines require school boards to fill a vacancy “at its next regular or special meeting” held 10 days after the vacancy occurs. A school board must fill the vacancy within 30 days. If it doesn’t, the county probate court selects a candidate.
However, the fact sheet states many school boards have adopted policies or procedures for how to operate in the event of a vacancy.
Ashland City Schools’ policy, for instance, was adopted Nov. 27, 2007.
Board vacancies can happen for a number of reasons. The Ashland City Schools policy states those reasons can include:
- Death
- Nonresidence
- Resignation
- Failure of the person elected or appointed to qualify as an elector residence within the District within ten (10) days after the organization of the Board or of the appointment or election
- Failure of the person elected or appointed to qualify due to acceptance of duties incompatible with those of a Board member
- Removal from the district
- Absence from meetings of the Board for a period of ninety (90) days, if the absence is caused by reasons declared insufficient by a two-thirds (2/3’s) vote of the remaining members of the Board and this vote was taken and entered into the record of the Board not less than thirty (30) days after the absence
- Removal from office
When did Ashland City Schools last have to fill a board vacancy?
Mowry has served on the Ashland City Schools board since 2022. Before that, she served on North Central State College’s board. She said board vacancies are typically rare events.
This year, Ashland City Schools had an elected board member who resigned due to a conflict of interest. Rob Wash, a co-owner of Spreng-Smith Insurance Agency, left the board June 1.
The board invited people to apply to fill the vacancy between March 25 and April 19, while advertising the person selected would finish out Wash’s term. His term was to conclude in 2027.
That information was incorrect, however. The selected candidate would only serve until 2025, and then would need to run for re-election to continue serving on the board, according to the Ohio Revised Code.
Upon discovering this, the board chose to reopen the application period from May 13 to May 24.
It received six applications over the two application periods. A public records request showed the board did extend offers to interview all six candidates for the position.
The board selected Tom Hart, a retiree who worked 37 years at Core & Main, to fill the vacant seat. According to its website, Core & Main is “a leading specialized distributor of water, wastewater, storm drainage and fire protection products, and related services.”
Hart was approved to fill the vacant seat June 24.
Hillsdale Local Schools also had a recent board vacancy.
Board vice president Nicholas Atterholt moved out of the district, which meant the board needed to replace him. The board selected Keith Yeater, a business consultant at Competitive Business Solutions, approving him at its May board meeting.
Both Yeater and Hart serve until Jan. 1, 2026. They both would need to run for re-election in 2025 to remain in their current board seats.
