Iowa City school board to appoint Yates’ replacement

IOWA CITY - On Tuesday night, the Iowa City school board voted to follow a state suggestion to proceed with a search for someone to appoint to the seat unexpectedly vacated when Tom Yates resigned May 13 - seven months into his four-year term.

If the board does not choose an appointee 30 days from his resignation, it will go to a special election in mid-July, the board said.

The school board will hold a board meeting June 7 during which the appointment will be the only topic.

In the meantime, an application to run for the seat will be open to the public. The application can be found on the district's website and is due June 1 by 4 p.m. at the district's office at 1725 N. Dodge St.

The board said it will review the applicants for the election before they make their decision.

The appointee would have to seek election on the next public vote scheduled in September 2017.

If a special election would occur, the school board member chosen by the public would finish out Yates' term, which would run until September 2019.

The board took a strict interpretation of Iowa Code for school board vacancies that suggests the board should act immediately with the appointment process.

'Looking at the Iowa Code, the ‘shalls' stick out to me … the board shall do this. That is the equivalent to a must to me,” school board member Brian Kirschling said. 'I think it is what we are supposed to do.”

Board President Christopher Lynch said holding a special election would cost the district upward of $20,000.

'Just by instinct, I lean toward thinking it is better to fill these things with an election,” board member Chris Liebig said.

'But some things do point the other way, the money, the middle of July, which is not ideal.”

According to Iowa Code, the public can call for a special election if 30 percent of the 7,300 votes cast in the last school board election - about 2,200 people - sign a petition.

The petition would be due June 2.

According to Superintendent Stephen Murley, Yates stepped down because of personal reasons.

Yates did not respond to multiple inquiries to confirm the reason for his resignation.

'I want to thank Tom for running for board and being a voice on the board. He had 31 years of district experience and he was a valuable asset to our team,” board member Phil Hemingway said.

'I think it is extremely unfortunate the circumstances leading to his resignation.”

Yates, 62, is the third Iowa City school board member to resign in the past 23 months.

The resignation occurred during a time the board has received some backlash from its discussion of school boundaries and a potential general obligation bond that would provide funding for facilities in the district scheduled for 2017.

During his run for the seat last year, Yates told The Gazette he found the school board 'dysfunctional” and closed off to the public.

Yates was one of the five newcomers to the seven-member board.

He had 13.8 percent of the votes, according to the Johnson County Auditor's Office.

For 31 years, Yates worked as a language arts teacher at City High. He was the president of the Iowa City Education Association for four years.

He obtained his bachelor's and master's degree from the University of Iowa.