The Pitt County Board of Education has begun work to fill a school board seat that will become vacant at the end of the month.
The board is scheduled by mid-to-late April to appoint a new member to replace District 1 representative Tracy Everette-Lenz, whose tenure is scheduled to end Feb. 29. March 19 is the deadline for people to apply to be considered for the temporary appointment.
Everette-Lenz, who cited personal reasons in a letter announcing her resignation this month, works as a school psychologist in a neighboring district. She was elected in 2022 to her second term, which was not due to expire until 2026.
But Attorney Emma Hodson, who serves as in-house counsel for Pitt County Schools, told school board members that the county’s Board of Elections plans to include the seat on the ballot in this year’s election.
“They’re going to actually create a special filing period that candidates could apply to run for the seat, and they would go on the November ballot, just as any other candidate,” she said, adding that the filing period is expected to come after the March 5 primary election but has not been announced. School board elections are nonpartisan and are not included in the primary election.
“(The winning candidate) would serve the balance of the term, and then that seat would come up again for election,” Hodson said. “It would be a very short time period for anybody running for that seat.”
Five of Pitt County’s nine school board districts — 3, 4, 6, 8 and 9 are already slated to be included on the November ballot. District 4 representative Don Rhodes is not seeking a second term, and District 8 representative Melinda Fagundus has decided to end her tenure after eight years on the board.
A District 1 representative appointed by the board would serve for a period of about seven months until a new elected representative could be sworn in. To be considered for the position, applicants must submit a resume and a letter of intent indicating why they would like to serve as a member of the board.
“Your applicants absolutely must reside in the district that was vacated,” Hodson said. “That is a nonnegotiable.”
District 1 is a pie-shaped wedged bordered roughly by Dickinson Avenue/U.S. 13, Evans and Old Tar, and Fire-Tower and Davenport Farm roads. It includes portions of Greenville and Winterville, South Central High School and Ridgewood Elementary.
If fewer than 10 applications are submitted, PCS Policy 2115 requires the board to interview all candidates. According to policy, the board will use a prepared set of questions for interviews “so that all candidates may be evaluated against an equitable standard.”
The interviews are scheduled to take place at the school board meeting on April 8, with a representative to be sworn in during the April 22 meeting.
Superintendent Ethan Lenker said the last time the board appointed a representative to fill a vacancy was about a decade ago, and there were two applicants. District 9 representative Benjie Forrest asked if there had been any interest in the District 1 vacancy and was told there had been a few inquiries so far.
Letters of intent and resumes should be submitted via email to crankin@pitt.k12.nc.us or delivered to the Central Office, 1717 W. Fifth St., and directed to the attention of Carol Rankin, administrative assistant to the Board of Education.
To be considered for an interview, applicants must reside in the geographic area comprising District 1. Schools located in District 1 include: J.H. Rose High School, Pitt County Early College High School, Ridgewood Elementary, South Greenville Elementary. The current Board of Education District map can be found at pitt.k12.nc.us/Page/32.
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