By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
If the residents of East Troy think things in the School District, and particularly the School Board, are going to calm down now that the facility needs referendum has passed, they might want to have another think.
The School Board will be down to four members again as of April 21 because of a series of missteps regarding appointments to open board seats over the past three years.
The seat held by Brian Wexler, who was appointed to the board Feb. 23, expires on April 21 because the term began in April of 2012 when Steve Lambrechts was elected to it. Lambrechts had to resign from the board in 2013 because he was also a coach in the district and could not be on the board according to board policy.
Murry Mitten was appointed to Lambrechts seat in 2013. The seat then came up for election in April of 2014 when Mitten chose not to run for the seat.
At that time, it appears district administration and the board lost track of how long the seat was open and when Chris Smith was elected in 2014, it was thought to be for a normal three-year term. Lambrechts was also elected back to the board in 2014 as he was able to run because he no longer coached for the district.
Because Smith had the second highest votes in the 2014 election, technically he was elected to serve the one remaining year on Lambrechts 2012 term.
Fast forward to 2015. When Wexler was appointed to the board in February of this year after Smith resigned from the board in January, the district told him (and all the applicants at the time) that the appointment would last until April 2016, when it would be up for election again, for what district officials thought remaining one year on the term.
Because the term actually expires on April 21 of this year and the open board seat wasn’t on the April 7 ballot like it should have been, the board is faced with filling the seat once again.
The board voted Monday to begin the application process for the new appointment. Applications are being accepted in the district office until 3:30 p.m. on April 24.
For the full story on the April 14 board meeting and details of how this transpired, see next week’s editions of the East Troy Times or the East Troy News.
