MILL HALL — The appointment of Kevin Ferrara — the only candidate interviewed for the open seat in Region IV — failed 3-3 at Keystone Central School District Board of Directors voting session this week.

Thursday night’s meeting saw members of the board who were present — excluding member Tom Cannon, who was absent, and the Region IX seat recently vacated by Mary Kramer — held a lengthy discussion about the potential appointment.

The board spent nearly an hour debating whether it should appoint Ferrara, who was the only person to apply for the seat vacated by Jeff Johnston on Jan. 1, or take into consideration other candidates.

At a special meeting on Jan. 8, the board denied two late applicants — Heather Yost and Jason Smith — who were two days late in filing their applications. Both individuals said they were unaware of the vacancy and deadline but applied as soon as they were aware.

Following the board’s decision, former member Roger Elling noted the board, in 2019, allowed a late applicant to be considered for an open Region III seat.

On Thursday night, board Vice President John Miller motioned to appoint Ferrara to the seat, which was seconded by Board Member Shelby Bohartz.

Before the vote was taken, Board Member Dr. Bill Baldino, who was one of two members voting in favor of allowing Yost and Smith to be considered last week, pointed to the consideration of a change to its policy on filling vacancies on the board. The item was listed further down on the board’s agenda.

He motioned to table the consideration until after the board would vote on the policy change.

The change in question would see an update to the language in Policy 004 and update the text to include, “Late application submissions and school board candidate requests for an interview may be considered after the vacancy application deadline date and time.”

Board President Elisabeth Lynch told the board the policy change was included in the agenda to offer clarification following last week’s meeting. She further stated the state does not have specific guidelines on how school boards must fill vacancies. A point Superintendent Dr. Francis Redmon spoke about it at the work session.

Board Member Chris Scaff, who chairs the Policy Committee, said the update should be tabled. He said the committee didn’t have the opportunity to truly review the policy at its meeting on Jan. 14. Scaff was the only other board member to vote alongside Baldino to allow the candidates to be interviewed.

Ultimately, Baldino’s motion to table the appointment failed for lack of a second.

Prior to the vote on whether to appoint Ferrara or not, multiple board members voiced their perspective on the move.

In discussing whether to appoint Ferrara or reopen the application process, Scaff said he’d heard a large amount of feedback following the work session.

He said he’d been “pummeled” by people who said they wanted to hear all applicants. He added the board shouldn’t turn interested candidates away, saying it’s hard to get public interest in these positions.

“By God, if we have people, we should hear them out,” he said.

He said his opinion was not meant to be negative towards Ferrara, saying he hoped he would submit an application again to be considered.

“My people have spoken loudly that we need to hear all candidates. We need to pick the best person,” he said. “We have time, let’s see what happens.”

Board Member Manny Rodriguez, who initially voted to deny the two late applicants, said after learning of the board’s past practices, he was interested in hearing from other candidates.

“I feel like we should wait and leave it open. The public wants it open longer to see what else we have. I encourage Mr. Ferrara to come back. I feel that’s the only fair thing to do,” he said.

Both Scaff and Rodriguez said the board could pick a new deadline for applicants and new date for interviews, too.

Miller was opposed to this, emphasizing the board already picked a deadline for applicants and date for interviews.

“We as the board need to set a standard of order. Regardless of input from others,” he said.

He pointed to the board’s decision last week to deny the applicants, and questioned if the board really wanted to allow items to continue to come up for a vote amongst the board “until someone gets their way.”

Baldino noted, per Robert’s Rule of Order, the board can bring up items for discussion or vote more than once, it just can’t be reconsidered and voted on more than once in the same meeting.

He spoke in favor of hearing from other candidates.

“I was ashamed we decided not to hear them at the last meeting and I’m ashamed at those who voted against it,” he said.

Following discussion, the motion to appoint Ferrara failed through a 3-3 tie vote, with Lynch, Miller and Bohartz voting yes and Rodriguez, Scaff and Baldino voting no.

The board then voted 5-1 to reopen its search for Region IV candidates.

It was suggested by Scaff the board develop new questions prior to interviews in the interest of fairness. This was adamantly supported by Lynch, who told board members to email potential questions to herself, Board Secretary Christine Taylor and Superintendent Dr. Francis Redmon.

“I know we can do this before the end of January,” Lynch said.

Through assurance from Solicitor David Lindsay, the board elected to shorten the window for applications to be submitted.

Redmon suggested the application deadline be Jan. 30, to give the board an opportunity to interview candidates and appoint an individual before the end of the 30-day deadline.

If the board is unable to appoint a candidate, residents in Region IV would have the opportunity to petition Magisterial District Judge Keith Kibler to appoint someone.

Lindsay told the board someone residing in the region — composed of Pine Creek Township II, Dunnstable and Wayne townships — would need 10 residents to sign the petition to be considered for appointment by a judge.

Further information about the application process will be published in a public notice in The Express and shared on the district’s website, www.kcsd.us.