The Bryan ISD school board is at full strength for the first time since last September.
30 year member David Stasny, who lost a re-election bid for an 11th term, was appointed to serve through November representing the west side of the district.
According to a BISD statement attributed to board president Mark McCall, Stasny was appointed Monday after the board’s executive committee interviewed three people. One of those three dropped out due to a possible job relocation.
McCall said in a statement that Stasny’s short term appointment ensures a highly qualified interim member.
Ten people applied for the place five seat. McCall said some were disqualified because they worked for BISD or because they were too young.
Statement from Bryan ISD:
At the February, 1, 2021 Bryan ISD Board of Trustees meeting, Vice President Dr. Julie Harlin read the following statement on behalf of President Mark McCall.
The next item is the appointment of a Single Member District Place 5 Trustee.
As a reminder, Dr. Doug Wunneburger vacated the seat after building a home in another part of Bryan ISD in the fall. This appointment will fill the seat for a short period of time until an election can take place in November.
From the beginning, our effort to fill this vacancy has been very open, thorough, and transparent. In keeping with this, I want to walk you through how we got to today’s
appointment.
Initially, our Board President, Mark McCall, reached out to qualified candidates that currently serve on Bryan ISD committees. Due to personal obligations and life events these individuals were unable to fill the position.
When we were unable to fill the position from this candidate pool, we made a highly publicized all-call for anyone interested in Single Member District 5 to apply to fill the vacancy.
We received 10 applications, however several of these applicants did not qualify because they did not live in Place 5, meet the age requirement or they were employed by Bryan ISD or related to someone who is, which is not permitted.
Out of the group that did qualify, the board selected three finalists to interview with the Board Executive Committee. One of these individuals withdrew her name from consideration during the interview phase due to a possible job relocation.
Out of the remaining two finalists, our Board of Trustees believes David Stasny is the best choice to fill this seat until the November election.
As we have been very transparent during this entire process, I want to explain, in part, how we came to our decision. The expectations of a School Board Member include over 12 hours of training within the first 120 days and it normally takes 6-12 months for a new board member to get fully up to speed.
Mr. Stasny’s willingness to fill in during this short appointment ensures that we have a highly qualified interim board member in place to advocate on behalf of the Bryan ISD students, faculty, and staff.
Therefore, on behalf of Board President, Mark Mcall, I, Julie Harlin, appoint David Stasny to fill the Single Member District Place 5 Position until the next normal school board election in November 2021.