On October 18, Bethel School Board President John Manning received a letter of resignation from Director Ronald Morehouse dated 10/15/2012 resigning from the board of directors for personal reasons, effective October 22, 2012. Mr. Morehouse was elected as a board member in November 2009 and has served for three years representing director district 1.

The remaining directors will establish a process and timeline to fill the board vacancy. A suggested draft timeline was reviewed at the board meeting October 23 at Shining Mountain Elementary where the board of directors present, Brenda Rogers, Michael Audas and John Manning accepted the resignation.

An official notice of vacancy will be published and an advertisement of the opening beginning on October 29. The draft time line noted applications will be accepted through November 30. Interviews of candidates will be conducted on Saturday, December 8 and the board is expected to appoint a new board member for director district 1 on the regular scheduled board meeting December 11. Oath of office will be January 8, 2013.

Since this position is scheduled to reach full term in 2013, the appointed member and the other two who were appointed last year will all have to run for office in 2013.

The notice of vacancy will be distributed to members of the Bethel Area Council (BAC) presidents (PTA), the District website and Bethel Pride. The local print newspapers, The News Tribune and Eatonville Dispatch will be given copies of the official vacancy notice to publish. The application Form and Questionnaire will be sent to those expressing an interest in the opening.

The Bethel Board is currently reviewing the policy for replacing members of the board who resign. Since last February when Directors Joy Cook and Marianne Lincoln resigned, they have current experience to guide their policy update.