Special election may be held to fill Iowa City school board seat

IOWA CITY - The unexpected resignation of an Iowa City school board member last week has set in motion the process of filling his seat, which could result in a special election.

Tom Yates, who was chosen by voters last year in a transformational election in which five newcomers were seated on the seven-member board, resigned Friday, citing personal reasons, according to Iowa City Community School District Superintendent Stephen Murley. Yates, who retired after working as a language arts teacher at City High for 31 years, could not be reached for comment regarding why he chose to step down.

Now, officials in the 13,600-student district are working to decide how to proceed. The school board can either appoint someone to fill the seat or hold a special election. Board President Chris Lynch said a decision is expected at the school board's 6 p.m. meeting on Tuesday, May 24, in the Professional Development Center at the Educational Services Center, 1725 North Dodge St., Iowa City.

'The two things to think about are, it's a really long term,” Lynch said, referring to the more than three years left on Yates' term, which expires in 2019. 'And, we've got a lot of issues going on where it might be better to send it to special election.”

Filling the seat is vital, Lynch noted, because with only six remaining school board members, a tie vote results in a motion failing. For that reason, Lynch said the board might delay addressing any controversial issues until a replacement for Yates is appointed or elected.

If the board chooses to hold a special election to fill the seat, it couldn't take place until mid-July at the earliest because a special election cannot be attached to the June 7 primary, nor can it be held within three weeks before or after, said Carrie Nierling, deputy auditor of elections with the Johnson County Auditor's Office.

Nierling said it's difficult to estimate the cost of a special election, but noted that the last regular school board election cost the school district about $9,200.

'It becomes to be a little hard when you're trying to estimate the cost of something you've never had before,” Nierling said.

A school board member chosen in a special election would finish out Yates' term.

If the school board decides to fill the seat by appointment, it must do so by June 12. After that date, a special election would be automatically triggered, Nierling said. The appointee would have to seek election on the next public vote, either the September 2017 school board election or any special school bond vote, whichever comes first, Nierling said.

There is one other possible course of action: if an appointment is made, district residents - under Iowa Code - could force a special election by circulating a petition calling for a public vote. Close to 2,200 valid signatures - 30 percent of the nearly 7,300 votes cast in the last school district vote - would be needed to force a special election, Nierling said.

Yates - and a host of other newcomers - ran for board seats with the promise of pushing back against the board's perceived status quo. Many candidates took issue with the then-board's past decisions, such as those concerning school boundaries and facilities.

'Many constituents have ... told me that they do not want to see any more board members who are ‘rubber stampers' - members who do what they are told and just follow other board members,” Yates told The Gazette in a candidate questionnaire in August 2015.

Yates is the third Iowa City school board member to resign in the past 23 months, said Murley, noting its not always an easy job.

'There's a lot of moving parts, and sometimes those require board members to make decisions that have a lot of public energy connected to them,” he said, pointing to evolving questions about new facilities, attendance zones and changes to classroom practices.

'That puts a lot of pressure on the people sitting in those seats.”

Lynch agreed that sitting on the school board - an unpaid position - can be challenging in an 'engaged, passionate” school district, Lynch said.

'We need to be sensitive that it's a difficult role,” he said.

Reporter Mitchell Schmidt contributed to this story.