It took nine rounds of voting, but the Plum School Board appointed a new member during a special meeting Wednesday night.
Beverly Purcell, 65, will serve the remainder of the term left by Devin Adams, who resigned last month after moving out of the district.
Now retired, Purcell served nearly 40 years as a special education teacher throughout the region, mainly in the Woodland Hills School District.
Her term will run until Dec. 1, though she is also a school board candidate in the May 20 primary election for a full term that would start in Decemeber. Purcell is a Republican who is cross-filed for the primary.
Happy with the result, she said she was ready to delve into board matters, such as the district’s ongoing construction projects.
“I’m confident that the decisions that I make will be the right ones; I’m excited to be here,” Purcell said.
Purcell was one of three candidates considered by the board, and the directors seemed deadlocked in their preferences for much of the voting process.
Facing competition from former school board member Amy Wetmore and fellow primary candidate Thomas Feeney, Purcell eventually earned the necessary five votes when Ron Sakolsky switched his vote from Wetmore in the ninth round of voting.
If the board had remained at its 4-4 impasse, the appointment decision likely would have been handed to a county judge to sort out. The judge could have appointed a director outside of Wednesday’s three candidates.
Sakolsky said his vote reflected an effort to avoid that scenario.
“There’s no way I was going to roll the dice on who was coming, not for the community or the students,” Sakolsky said after the meeting.
Advocates for Wetmore, including School Directors Michelle Stepnick and Renee Richardson, cited the former director’s experience with board procedure and the “massive learning curve” Stepnick said was required to become accustomed to the board.
But board President Angela Anderson insisted her vote for Purcell or Feeney was firm after a brief verbal spat between Feeney and Wetmore occurred in the audience and after observing the candidates during a construction presentation.
“I cannot vote for a step in the wrong direction,” Anderson said.
Things briefly broke down during the final vote count as directors argued among each other, but relations seemed friendlier among directors and candidates after the meeting adjourned.
Several directors, including Richardson who had consistently voted against Purcell, congratulated the appointee after the meeting ended. Wetmore similarly commended Purcell.
“If I had to lose, I couldn’t have lost to a better person,” Wetmore said.
Purcell has 10 days to be sworn-in by magistrate Mike Doyle. The term for her appointed seat ends Dec. 1, but if she is elected to one of four seats open this year, Purcell could continue on to a four-year term.