BEND, OR -- Bend-La Pine Schools’ board is down to six following the resignation, earlier this month, of the Zone Seven member who moved out of the district. School Board Chair Melissa Barnes Dholakia says they’re looking for someone to fill the vacancy who has personal or professional experience and expertise to help with the board’s goals for the district. "Personal or professional experience and expertise can come from a lot of different sectors or experiences in supporting that work," she tells KBND News, "The second thing that we’re looking for is someone that really wants to do this work as a volunteer public servant."

Applicants must live inside Bend-La Pine Schools’ attendance area, have lived in Deschutes County for at least one year and be registered to vote. 

Applications are due October 11 at 4 p.m. and are accepted online. The board will narrow down their list of finalists at the regular meeting on November 8th, "We’ll have a special board meeting on November 15th that is just for interviewing the finalists and then deliberating and deciding on who we will appoint. That person, once appointed, if they accept, will be sworn in at our December 13th board meeting."

But Dholakia says that person will only serve for six months, "In Oregon, an appointment can be filled, but it is filled only until the next regularly scheduled school board election. And our next election is in May, so if this person wished to serve past the June 30th expiration, they would need to file and run in the May 2023 election."