5 candidates will interview for vacant Pasco School Board seat. Here’s what we know
Five candidates will interview on Tuesday for a vacant seat on the Pasco School Board.
The seat, which represents southwestern parts of the city, was left vacant earlier this year by Scott Lehrman, who resigned to avoid a conflict of interest so his wife could take a permanent teaching position with the school district.
But Lehrman will also be among the candidates vying to be appointed to the seat. Under state law, school board members cannot benefit financially from any contract that comes before the board — that includes ratifying a contract to employ the spouse of a school board member.
An exception is allowed if the spouse already had a contract before the elected official took office.
The school board will go into closed-door executive session after the interviews on Tuesday with plans to immediately after make an appointment. Here is the list of candidates who will interview:
- Scott Lehrman
- Vincent Guerrero
- Michelle Clark
- Payden McRoberts
- Charles Pratt
The deadline to apply for the open Director District No. 1 seat was March 24.
It’s unclear if the board will choose to reappoint Lehrman — who has served on the school board since 2013 — or will go with another candidate to serve in the seat.
After Steve Simmons resigned from his at-large position in December for the exact same reason Lehrman did, the remaining three board members chose instead to appoint Rosa Torres over Simmons. Torres, a finance manager at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, is the only Latina representative in a city that’s 55% Hispanic.
The Pasco School Board has seen substantial turnover over the past few months. Three of the four board members currently serving have been there for four months or less. School board members are not paid for their work.
