In December, Melissa Nolan, a conservative member of the Milford School Board, resigned leaving the board with an open seat to fill. Soon after her resignation, the board began accepting applications for the opening. Dozens applied, but only four received interviews. Of those four, Mary Anne Will, who previously served on the Milford board from 1985 to 1999, was selected and sworn in during the first meeting of the year Jan. 11.
Another board member, Jerry Combs, was not present at that first meeting. That's because he had resigned as well.
This left the board with yet another seat to fill. Now some are calling into question the board's process for selecting its new members. As it stands now, the board is comprised of left-leaning members following the departure of Nolan and Combs. Those members chose Will and now get to choose someone else to join the board.
While Milford's process is in line with Ohio law and board members appointing new board members is common, some — including former member Nolan and other candidates vying for the position — say the current method is unfair and will create a school board that isn't representative of the community.
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When Milford first announced it was seeking candidates, the district's website said Board Member Emily Chesnut, Superintendent John Spieser, and Treasurer John Espy would be tasked with reviewing applications. In a social media post, Nolan claimed Spieser's and Espy's involvement in this step was a conflict of interest.
"The board has only two district positions that it hires, evaluates and determines salary for: these two," Nolan wrote. "To give those two positions any decision-making influence is abhorrent."
While Spieser and Espy are not tasked with selecting candidates, Nolan stated they do have control of narrowing down the pool to "those they believe will offer the least resistance to their agenda."
During the Jan. 11 meeting, board members were grilled during public comment by Toni Parker, a candidate who applied for the opening but wasn't interviewed, and Paul Chambers, a conservative who ran for school board and lost in November.
"To tell me I was not chosen for an interview because I did not have enough community involvement is a boldfaced lie," Parker, a former educator, said.
Chambers followed Parker and called Will's appointment illegitimate because the board did not gather community input before filling the seat. Before the next person began speaking, Chambers continued to shout at the board and refused to leave when asked to by Chesnut, who is now president of the board. The incident caused the meeting to end prematurely.
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At its most recent meeting Thursday, Chesnut said the board will use the same selection process to replace former member Combs and will choose from the same pool of candidates for the previous opening despite the criticism.
"Moving forward, we are going to appoint from that process since it just occurred," Chesnut said.
The board is expected to appoint its newest member at its next meeting on Jan. 24.
