Iowa City school board picks new president, will appoint someone to vacant seat

IOWA CITY - The Iowa City school board on Tuesday elected a new president and decided to appoint someone to fill a vacant seat - actions made necessary by the resignation of the previous president.

The board voted 4-2 to name Chris Lynch president. Tuyet Dorau received the other two votes, cast by herself and Patti Fields.

Lynch, of Coralville, takes over for Sally Hoelscher, who abruptly resigned from office last week. He will serve until September, when the board already was scheduled to elect new officers.

The school board also said Tuesday it would appoint someone to the rest of Hoelscher's term, which is up for election in September 2015.

Iowa law calls on school boards to fill vacated seats by appointment. If the board doesn't make an appointment within 30 days, a special election is held. Residents cannot petition for a special election.

In going the appointment route, school board members cited the cost of a special election, approximately $16,000, and the district's past practice of choosing someone to fill empty seats.

Board member Marla Swesey noted the district is in a 'budget crunch,” with $3.6 million in cuts recently approved.

Still, Fields, who was president of the school board in 2011 when a vacant seat was filled, acknowledged it is a 'very sensitive process.”

'Because we don't want to interfere in the democratic process,” she said.

She said the school board has a lot of important work to do in the next year and appointing a former board member with knowledge of how the district works would be helpful. She also favored picking someone with no aspirations for the office to avoid giving a 'leg up” to a future candidate.

That's the route the school board took in 2011 when it appointed former board member Jan Leff to serve for two months until a regular school board election.

The district has application forms for people interested in the position. The material is due July 14, and the board plans to meet July 21 to make the selection.

After being elected president, Lynch said he wanted the board and the district to be more proactive, a word he has used frequently since the need for budget cuts was announced earlier this year.

'I appreciate the board support and I look forward to us working together as a team, and I hope we can improve our teamwork,” said Lynch, who participated in the meeting by telephone.

Lynch was elected to the school board last September. He works at Procter & Gamble and has experience in operations management, supply chain management and engineering for the company.

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