There’s a new contender for the board meeting land-speed record: the Friday, September 8 Salida Board of Education meeting, clocking in at just over five minutes long.
The meeting, which commenced promptly at noon, had a single item on its agenda: to cancel this year’s school board election.
Before anyone cries foul or alleges back-alley election tampering from the Board of Education, it is worth reminding readers—as the board reminded the meeting’s attendees—that there were exactly five candidates for the five available board seats, which would have made for a somewhat predictable election.
As covered on September 7 in this Ark Valley Voice news article, citizens of Salida had been notified of the coming election and the candidacy petitioning process for months, and none of the five available seats were contested.
Because of Colorado state balloting deadlines, the board had to officially notify the state as to its uncontested status so that the ballots that will be distributed in October are accurate. But given there were five qualified candidates each running for one of the five open seats, plans changed.
“Midday meetings always arouse suspicion,” joked board president Joe Smith, as the meeting’s attendees chatted about the relative banality behind Friday’s meeting.
“[This meeting] is just standard, following the law,” added District 2 representative Dr. Jodi Breckenridge Petit, talking about the state balloting deadline.
Next Tuesday, September 12, the board will have its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. at 627 Oak St, preceded by a collective bargaining meeting work session which begins at 5:30 p.m.
New directors will be sworn in during November’s board meeting.
“Excited to have a stable board,” said Salida School District Superintendent David Blackburn.
Recent Comments