Schools
School Board Seat Still Remains Vacant After Six-Hour Meeting
The ABC School Board could not come to a consensus on candidates vying for a spot on the board and ultimately decide to leave it up to the Nov. election.
A special ABC School Board meeting was held Saturday morning to interview 13 candidates looking to take the seat left vacant by elected Cerritos City councilmember Mark Pulido. But after a rigorous 6-hour process of applicant interviews and board discussions, members of the School Board -- President Maynard Law, Vice President Arman Reyes, Clerk Olympia Chen, James Kang, Celia Spitzer, and Sophia Tse -- could not reach a consensus and motioned to leave the seat vacant until the Nov. election.
Each candidate was given 10 minutes to introduce themselves and answer questions from the board members.
The thirteen school board candidates included Cindy Chen, Louise Dodson, Lynda Johnson, Helen Lee, Mansour Meisami, Jean Mc Hatton, David Montgomery, Ernie Nishii, Kiran Rami, Olga Rios, Ethan Robinson, Adarsh Sunak and Anna Titus.
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Law, who underwent open heart surgery about two weeks ago and is still recovering, told Patch.com that plans had initially been made for him to participate in the special meeting via the Internet. Spitzer acknowledged Law's ongoing recovery, and expressed concern that he shouldn't be put under the stresses of board procedures in light of his recent health procedure. Law, however, felt it was important to be there in person during such a pivotal decision-making process.
At the end of the lengthy Saturday morning meeting, board members concluded that it was best to let the Nov. election determine who would fill the vacant seat.