Posted on August 29, 2023 5:35 PM
ESD 123 Selects Lindsay Lightner for Richland School Board Position
ESD 123 held a special board meeting tonight, August 29, to fill the vacant Richland School Board Position #3. Lindsay Lightner has been appointed to RSD Board Position #3 and will be sworn in at the August 31 Richland School Board meeting.
At last week’s regular ESD 123 board meeting, Robert (Scott) Butner, Jeffrey (Jeff) Estes, and Lindsay Lightner were announced as the three candidates moving on to tonight’s interviews. The ESD 123 Board of Directors interviewed these three candidates during the August 29 public meeting, then recessed into executive session to deliberate on the candidates’ qualifications. Upon returning to the open meeting, ESD Board member Lee Ann Dudney motioned to appoint Ms. Lightner to Richland School Board Position #3. The motion was approved unanimously.
Lindsay Lightner currently serves as a career-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Teaching & Learning at WSU Tri-Cities.
On Thursday, August 31, Ms. Lightner will be sworn in at the Richland School Board meeting and will serve until November 28, 2023.
Posted on August 24, 2023 5:35 PM
Top 3 Candidates Announced for Richland School Board Interviews
Robert (Scott) Butner, Jeffrey (Jeff) Estes, and Lindsay Lightner have been selected to move on to interviews for the vacant Richland School Board Position #3. At tonight’s regular board meeting, the ESD 123 Board of Directors reviewed and screened the 11 applications that were submitted for the position. During the open public meeting, ESD 123 board members voted to approve Mr. Butner, Mr. Estes, and Ms. Lightner as the three candidates who will be interviewed at the ESD’s special board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, August 29 at 4:30 PM.
The August 29 ESD special board meeting is open to the public and will be held in-person at the ESD 123 building in Pasco, as well as online via Zoom. During the meeting, the ESD Board will interview the 3 candidates in a panel format. Following the open interview, the board will recess into executive session to review and evaluate the qualifications of the applicants (per RCW 42.30.110). ESD board members will return to the open public meeting to vote on and announce their selected candidate.
The newly-appointed Richland School Board member for Position #3 will be sworn in at the August 31st Richland School Board meeting.
**Posted on 8/9/2023 at 8:20 AM**
The Board of Directors of ESD 123 is preparing to assist in appointing a board member to the Richland School Board of Directors, pending certification of the August election results. Per Washington State law RCW 28A.343.370 and ESD 123 Policy, the role of the ESD 123 Board is to “appoint a sufficient number of board members to constitute a legal majority on the board of directors of such school district.”
Election results will be certified officially at 9:00 AM on August 15 by the Benton County Auditor’s Office. If three of the five Richland School Board members are recalled, the Richland School Board will only have two board members as of August 15 and will not have the required quorum to legally conduct business. To meet the three-member minimum quorum, the ESD 123 Board of Directors must appoint one board member to the Richland School Board.
During their regularly scheduled meeting on August 8, the current Richland School Board of Directors voted to postpone their next scheduled meeting from August 22 to August 31 in order to provide the ESD 123 Board of Directors sufficient time to solicit and screen applications for the anticipated vacancy. Based on this and pending the certified election results, ESD 123 will use the following tentative timeline:
- Tuesday, August 15, 9:00 AM – Benton County Auditor certifies August 1st election results
- Tuesday, August 15, 9:30 AM – ESD 123 opens solicitation of applications to fill the Richland School Board Position #3. (Application materials will be available on our website at www.esd123.org or in-person at the ESD 123 office located at 3924 W Court St, Pasco, WA 99301.)
- Wednesday, August 23, 4:30 PM – Deadline for submission of applications (both hard copy and electronic submissions) for the Richland School Board Position #3
- Thursday, August 24 – ESD 123 Board of Directors Meeting:
- 3:30 PM – ESD board members meet in executive session to review and screen applications.
- 4:30 PM – ESD board members announce in the open public meeting the top 2-5 candidates they have selected to move forward to interview.
- Tuesday, August 29, 4:30 PM – ESD 123 Board of Directors Special Meeting
- The top 2-5 candidates for Richland School Board Position #3 will be interviewed by the ESD 123 Board of Directors during the open public meeting.
- ESD board members will recess into executive session to review and evaluate the qualifications of the applicants. (RCW 42.30.110)
- ESD board members will return to the open public meeting to vote on and announce their selected candidate.
- Thursday, August 31 – The newly-appointed Richland School Board member for Position #3 will be sworn in at the scheduled Richland School Board meeting.
- November 7 – General Election – Voters in participating school districts will elect school board positions with expiring terms (including Richland School Board Position #3). (See list of scheduled school board races here.)
After being sworn in, the newly-appointed member to Richland School Board Position #3 “shall serve until the next regular school district election, at which time a successor shall be elected for the unexpired term.” (RCW 28A.343.370 (2)) This means that the appointed Richland Position #3 board member will serve until that position’s term expires on November 28, 2023. During the November 7 General Election, voters residing within the Richland School District boundaries will have the opportunity to cast their vote for who will fill Position #3.
We will continue to communicate update this page as information becomes available.
**Posted 8/4/2023 at 10:23 AM**
Following direction from Washington State law (RCW), guidance from the Washington State Attorney General, and ESD 123 Policy 1115, the ESD 123 Board of Directors is preparing to take action as necessary regarding the potential vacancies on the Richland School Board of Directors. We will continue to update this page as information becomes available.
The August 1, 2023 Benton County election included measures to recall (or remove from office) three of the five directors of the Richland School Board: Audra Byrd (Board Position #1), Misipati Semi Bird (Board Position #3), and Kari Williams (Board Position #4). According to Washington State RCW 28A.343.300 and 28A.343.370, a school board “shall consist of five members” and must have “a sufficient number of board members to constitute a legal majority” in order for the board to conduct business on behalf of the school district. (A majority is known as a quorum.) Therefore, to be able to have a quorum and hold a meeting, a school board must have at least three board members.
The results of the August 1st election will be certified officially at 9:00 AM on August 15th by the Benton County Auditor’s Office. (Find election results here.) If three of the five Richland School Board members are recalled, the Richland School Board will only have two board members as of August 15th and will not have the required quorum to conduct business. To meet the three-member minimum quorum, the ESD 123 Board of Directors must appoint one board member to the Richland School Board.
Washington State law RCW 28A.343.370 is the controlling statue that outlines the role of Educational Service District 123 and the Richland School District:
“PROVIDED, That should there exist fewer board members on the board of directors of a school district than constitutes a majority of the legally established number of board members, the educational service district board members of the district in which the school district is located by the vote of a majority of its legally established number of board members shall appoint a sufficient number of board members to constitute a legal majority on the board of directors of such school district; and the remaining vacancies on such board of directors shall be filled by such board of directors in accordance with the provisions of this section.”
Regarding the timing of the ESD’s appointment of a Richland School Board member, analysis by the Washington State Attorney General of the statute specifies that the ESD’s authority to make an appointment does not go into effect until there is an official vacancy(ies) on the school board. Any official vacancy(ies) on the Richland School Board will be confirmed when the election results are certified by the Benton County Auditor at 9:00 AM on August 15. The ESD 123 Board of Directors understand the emergent nature of the situation and the time constraints involved. An update with additional next steps and proposed timelines will be posted to this page on Tuesday, August 15th, pending the certification of the election results.