At Tuesday night’s Nome Public School board meeting, a new board member was voted in to fill the vacancy created by the departure of board member Keith Conger.
At the meeting’s start, the board seemed noticeably surprised at the quantity of candidates: five sat in a row of chairs placed in the front of the room. Unable to make it to the meeting, an additional two candidates phoned in to be interviewed.
As the meeting commenced, candidates were asked one question each from a board member. Twenty-four replies later, the board voted. After a round of nominations, the board had not reached a consensus. Unable to reach a group majority, the board lobbed a second round of questions to the candidates.
After another 24 replies, the board went through a second round of voting to find Keith Conger’s replacement. This resulted in another tie. Shawn Arnold suggested that the board could change the voting system by suspending parliamentary procedure.
After that change in voting system, Pangaanga Pangawyi (Panganga Pungowiyi) emerged as the newest school board member.
Pangawyi will serve as a temporary member until the October elections, in which she has the option to run for a full term.
The next school board meeting is May 23rd at the Nome Elementary library at 5:30 pm.
