Resignation opens seat on Highland school board

RIVERSIDE — Highland school board member Kathy Butler (District 6) resigned from the position last week for personal reasons, leaving the spot open for a new representative from the district’s northwest corner.

“She has some other things she wants to do,” Superintendent Ken Crawford said. “It’s not malicious or anything like that, it’s just that sometimes life changes.”

Butler did not respond to a request for comment.

The district’s residents have until April 29 — 14 days after Butler’s resignation — to submit a petition with 100 signatures prompting a special election to select a replacement. If no such petition is submitted, the board has until May 15 — 30 days after — to appoint a successor themselves.

Crawford said the board was already looking for someone interested.

“We have on our website right now a questionnaire for anyone interested,” he said. “Then as a board we can sit down and review those and decide if we need to do interviews or not. If we decide yes, then we’d do the interviews and pick somebody from there.”

The district was on the lookout for some qualities in its next board member.

“We’re looking for someone that’s a proactive member of the community that believes the school is doing great things,” he said. “Qualities of being a team player and saying, ‘Hey, we’re all in this together,’ I think those are really good qualities … When you see progress and you see the work that you oversee and you talk about come to fruition, that’s a good feeling.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com