School board favors appointment over special election to fill open seat

Glendale Unified school officials will likely appoint someone to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation of Mary Boger, board president.

Boger’s last meeting was Tuesday, during which fellow board members said they will probably opt to fill her position with an appointment rather than hold a special election.

According to a district report, the estimated cost of a special election would be $250,000.

School board members are expected to vote on the matter on Sept. 2.

Some board members said they would seek to appoint someone who wouldn’t be interested in running for a permanent seat during the April 2015 election.

“I am not for appointing someone that I know ... will be running,” school board member Armina Gharpetian said. “That gives unfair advantage to that person.”

School board member Christine Walters also said she would prefer a replacement who wouldn’t run in April, yet would be knowledgeable of the district’s current issues and names and locations of each of its schools.

“We just don’t have time to bring them up to speed,” Walters said.

School board member Greg Krikorian, however, cited the last time school officials appointed someone to the board — Mary Boger — in 2002.

Boger was appointed when school board member Jeanne Bentley passed away. She was then elected to the seat in 2003.

A similar event could happen again, he said, allowing the district to find a “diamond in the rough” through someone who is appointed and then runs for the seat.

If school officials vote to seek an appointment, candidates would apply and school board members would publicly interview them during an upcoming special school board meeting.

The swearing-in ceremony would be held Oct. 21.