Important Message from the Hastings-on-Hudson Board of Education Special Community Meeting re Vacant BOE Seat

 
This email is being sent to the mailing list for informational purposes as it represents an issue of potentially broad interest to the community.
 
July 16, 2018 
 
Dear Community Members,
 
At our July 9, 2018 Board meeting, the Board of Education had a discussion on the topic of filling the seat recently vacated by Christina Mitchell. Because there was much public interest in this matter we determined that we would postpone our decision in order to gather more input. To that end there are two ways to provide input:
 
  1. We will be holding a special meeting* of the BOE on Tuesday, July 24 at 7:30pm in the Lloyd Library to provide an opportunity for members of the public to address the BOE on filling the vacancy. Community members will have 3 minutes each to share their thoughts.
  2. You can send written comments to boardofeducation@hohschools.org. Deadline for written comments is July 23 at midnight.
 
The board expects to discuss and make a process decision the evening of July 24 after hearing from the public. (This discussion and vote will be open to the public.)
  
Below is a summary of the 4 options being considered:
  1. Hold a special election at a cost of $12,000 to the District (by law, must be held prior to October 1, 2018)
  2. Solicit applications from the community, hold public interviews and choose a new board member by board vote
  3. Award the open board seat to the next closest candidate from the past election held in May 2018
  4. Leave the open board seat unfilled and operate as a 6-person Board until the May 2019 election
 
Here are two resources to better understand the discussion on these options so far:
 
We welcome your input on these 4 options in this important decision.
 
The Hastings-on-Hudson Board of Education
 
 
*A prior communication inadvertently referred to the opportunity for the public to address the board as a public hearing.