Here’s who the ESD 123 chose to fill a seat on the Richland School Board
The Educational Service District 123 board of directors chose Lindsay Lightner to fill one of three seats recently vacated by a successful recall in the Richland School District.
Lightner will begin her service and take the oath of office at the Richland School Board’s next meeting on Thursday. Her term in the Director No. 3 seat will run until voters elect someone for the position in the November general election.
“This was one of the more difficult decisions we’ve had to make,” said ESD 123 board chair Terry Brandon. “We toyed with putting names in hats and pulling one out.”
ESD 123 was tasked by law to appoint one school board member after voters decided in the Aug. 1 primary to remove board members Semi Bird, Audra Byrd and Kari Williams over an illegal vote to make COVID masks optional.
Once Lightner takes her place on the board, the Richland School Board will have the quorum it needs by law to hold public meetings and conduct business.
In coming weeks, Lightner and her fellow school board members — Rick Jansons and Jill Oldson — will interview and appoint two more candidates from the Richland community to serve in seats vacated by Byrd and Williams.
The candidate chosen to fill Williams’ seat will serve until after the November election, and the candidate chosen to fill Byrd’s seat will serve for the next two years.
Lightner works as career-track assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Washington State University Tri-Cities, where she teaches courses in elementary science methods and preservice teacher preparation.
She has worked as a New York City middle school teacher, an English instructor and advisor at Pennsylvania State University and as a lecturer and student teacher supervisor at Canterbury Christ Church University in London.
During Tuesday’s interviews, she highlighted her extensive background in education and her work teaching the next generation of educators.
The ESD 123 board also interviewed Scott Butner, a former Richland School Board member and professional photographer, as well as Jeffrey Estes, a retired Pacific Northwest National Laboratory director.
