Starkville School District Board of Trustees President Eddie Myles says he wants to continue serving on the city’s school board despite missing a deadline to submit his letter of intent to aldermen.
The Starkville Board of Aldermen is poised to appoint Juliette Weaver-Reese to Myles’ seat, which becomes vacant March 3, through its consent agenda. Weaver-Reese was the only resident to submit a letter of intent to the city this month. The deadline for submissions recently passed.
Myles said he would spend this weekend contacting aldermen to inform them of his wishes.
Aldermen are likely to pull the matter from consent with the introduction of a second applicant. At least two aldermen, Ward 4’s Jason Walker and Ward 5’s Scott Maynard, have immediate family connections to SSD and are expected to recuse themselves from the matter.
“At this point with us so close to consolidation, I see that as the biggest reason to see this thing through,” he said Saturday. “We need to keep together the continuity this board has gotten so far in the process.”
State-mandated consolidation of SSD and Oktibbeha County School District will occur in July 2015. The SSD school board will take over as the presiding body of the Starkville Consolidated School District. Legislation is currently moving through the Miss. House and Senate that would make the group, with guidance from OCSD Conservator Margie Pulley and SSD Superintendent Lewis Holloway, responsible for employee contracts during the 2015-2016 academic year.
Out of the five-person body, only Keith Coble’s school board seat is currently an elected position decided by school district residents who live outside of Starkville. The rest are appointed by aldermen. If current legislation holds, a second seat will become an elected seat.
A call to Weaver-Reese went unreturned Saturday.
The Dispatch will update this story as new information becomes available.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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