Post filled

Gentry School Board fills vacant seat on second try

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

— Scott McCollum was selected by the Gentry School Board at a special meeting on Monday to fill the empty Zone-3 seat, vacated when Brenda Willett resigned last month.

After Willett resigned from the Board on Aug. 16 to make it possible for her son Conner Willett to take a position with the school district in the technology department, the district sought interested parties to fill the vacant position until a new board member is elected at the September 2011 annual school election

Frank Scherer and Scott Mc-Collum offered to fill the vacant post and were both interviewed by the board at its Sept. 20 meeting.

“Both were outstanding candidates,” Gentry School District superintendent Randy Barrett said.

When the remaining six board members voted at the Sept. 20 meeting, the vote was a 3-3 tie.

A second vote was also split evenly. An agreement was made to flip a coin for the position.

“I flipped the coin, Scott called it and Frank won the toss,” Barrett said. “They shook hands and there were no hard feelings,” he added.

However, when Scherer went to the courthouse to be sworn in, it was determined that he lived on the wrong side of the road to be legally inside the Gentry School District. His address placed him in the Siloam Springs School District and thus made him ineligible for the post.

“It was an honest mistake,” Barrett said.

At a special meeting on Monday, the council - without a dissenting vote - selected Mc-Collum to fill the vacant board post.

He is to be sworn in before the next regular meeting of the board on Oct. 18 and will serve until the September 2011 School Election, at which time he may run to fill the vacant seat for the remainder of the vacancy - one moreyear. Should he run again the following year and be elected, his term would be a full five years.

In a related matter, because no one filed for the five-year Zone 1 position currently held by Gary Dunlap, he will continue to serve until the next school election.

Dunlap said he intended to file but missed the deadline. He will beeligible to file prior to the 2011 election to serve the remainder of the five-year term, should he choose to do so.

At its special meeting, the board also approved a Statement of Assurance, required by law, which certifies that the schools and school district are compliant to state law. The document which was approved by school administrativestaff and signed by Barrett and school board chairman Jim Barnes must be submitted to the Arkansas Department of Education by Oct. 15.

Three student transfer requests from students already attending Gentry Schools but now living inside the Siloam Springs School District were also approved by the board on Monday.

News, Pages 1 on 09/29/2010