Trustees to Interview Candidates for Board

Nine candidates for a vacancy on the Anaheim City School District Board of Education will be interviewed by the four board members at a public session today.

The trustee appointed by the board will serve the remainder of Jeanne Blackwell’s four-year term, which expires in November. Blackwell, first elected to the board in 1983, resigned in February for health reasons.

The 75-year-old attorney and former teacher in the city’s elementary school district died of heart failure March 1, just three days after her board colleagues accepted her resignation.

Candidates for the vacancy are Ronald Banderas, Barbara C. Gonzalez, Thomas Holguin, Harald G. Martin, Susan Preus, Gregory R. Ramsay, Patrice P. Roggenkamp, Jerome M. Silverman and Avanda S. Williams.

Interviews will take 15 to 20 minutes for each candidate and will be followed by public comments. The board does not expect to choose Blackwell’s replacement today but at a closed session at 1 p.m. Saturday, a spokesperson said.

Among top priorities for the board after filling the vacancy will be choosing a successor to Supt. Jack Sarnicky.

Sarnicky, who replaced Meliton Lopez as superintendent last summer, has announced his retirement, effective July 1.

Today’s board meeting is at 7:30 p.m. in the Staff Development Center, Building B, 1001 S. East St., Anaheim.

Information: (714) 517-8500.