On Monday, the Canyon ISD school board voted 6-0 to appoint a person to fill the open seat left by the death of Paul Blake.
The board voted down the option of calling for an immediate special election this coming November by a 4-2 vote.
Blake died unexpectedly this past July. He was re-elected earlier this year to a new 4 year term on the Canyon ISD school board.
Candidates can now apply for the Place 1 seat. The person appointed by the board will serve until May 2025. The seat will be up for special election in 2025 to finish out Blake's term ending in 2027.
Casey Posey made a motion to conduct an election in November to fill the position. Posey stated he wanted to give the people of the district an opportunity to have their voice heard.
Katharyn Wiegand opposed the idea on the premise that with such an abbreviated time frame, many who would seek office and be well qualified would not have time under that time constraint to raise money for an election. She further argued that in the past, this process has worked out well when positions had opened and felt that the method of waiting until the next scheduled school board election was proper and being a good custodian for the district.
Matt Parker believed that both arguments for filling the spot had merit, but he supported the proposal to have a special election in November. The measure failed, with Jennifer Winegarner, Laurie Gilliland and Bill Jenkins joining Wiegand’s opposition.
Wiegand then made a motion to have an appointment fill out the position until May 2025, after which an election would be held to elect a member to finish out Blake’s term. Parker and Posey both agreed to vote for the measure, which passed unanimously.
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