Jacksonville School District 117 approved the resignation of a fellow board member at last night’s emergency meeting.
On October 5th, the board received a notice of Cheryl Ballard’s resignation in order to take a job with the State of Illinois. To avoid a conflict of interest, Ballard’s resignation needed to be considered immediately.
Superintendent Steve Ptacek noted that Ballard’s service as a board member would be missed.
“I can’t thank Cheryl enough for the efforts and the commitment to this community that she’s given. Cheryl has always had the best interest of the kids as her driving goal. I’m going to miss her being on the board because our board right now has been working at an extremely wonderful level and anytime you lose a member of a team and you’re going to replace them with somebody, there’s a little bit of unknown,” says Ptacek.
As for how the board will go about filling Ballard’s vacancy, Ptacek says the District will publicize that the position is open and accept letters of interest and resumes through October 25th.
The next day, October 26th, there will be a special board meeting to consider potential candidates. Board members will decide during that meeting if they wish to bring in candidates for an interview.
Interviews are tentatively scheduled to take place November 2nd. Ballard’s replacement will fill the board vacancy until the next election in March and subsequent seating in April.