Significant question regarding CEL School Board on November ballot

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[October 17, 2018]  A special public question will be on November's ballot for Chester-East Lincoln School district voters to change how board members get elected.

Current bylaws dictate that CEL can only have three board members per township - an election type called “Congressional.” CEL Administrator Laura Irwin said, “We can have less but not more.” The congressional model ensures that no township is over-represented.

The school board voted July 24th to put the question to school district voters in the November election, changing from a congressional district to an “at-large” district. By becoming an at-large district, it would allow the township restriction to be lifted when filling vacant seats on the board, meaning anyone residing within the school district boundaries would be eligible to be a board member regardless of what township they live in.

In recent years the congressional model has hampered the school district from obtaining its full number of school board members. For the last year Chester-East Lincoln has been functioning as a six member board instead of seven because they have been unable to fill the last seat due to the restriction imposed by board-seats-per-township.

Irwin said, “CEL has had interested people call, but usually they aren’t in the correct township.” Currently, CEL has its full quota of three from East Lincoln and three from Oran, so the last seat under the current restrictions has to be filled by someone from one of the other townships, Irwin said.

Through consolidation the CEL School District covers East Lincoln, Oran, Aetna, Atlanta, Eminence, West Lincoln and Chester Townships.

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Irwin said, “The school district at Leroy voted to change to at-large 10 years ago and it has gone well for them.” Irwin also mentioned that Lexington also recently changed to at-large election of board members.

If the voters approve it, board members will be elected at-large without any township restriction.

The CEL board encourages voters in the school district to vote, and asks them to approve this ballot question.

If the November vote is in favor of at-large board member election, CEL may appoint a board member to fill the empty seat. Irwin said, “We’ve had interest so it’s very possible.” The next opportunity to place a board member by public election would be in the April 2019 election.

CEL’s school board members voluntarily serve the community with terms varying between two and four years without any kind of compensation. Administrator Irwin was full of praise for what she called “a fantastic, hard working board,” and looks forward to working with a full school board of seven members.


[Jim Youngquist]

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