Pasco School Board denies reappointing its former president to pick someone new. Here’s why
Pasco will welcome yet another new face to the school board.
On Tuesday night, the four remaining Pasco School Board members voted to appoint Vincent Guerrero to the open District No. 1 seat.
Board President Amy Phillips said the recent turnover was “unprecedented.” Four of the board’s five seats have seen changes in the last four months, either by way of election or resignations.
Guerrero is a recreation specialist with the city of Pasco. He’s lived in Pasco for more than a decade, has two children who attend Ruth Livingston Elementary School, and is involved in Pasco Kiwanis and the Meals on Wheels Pasco program.
He holds a master’s degree in public administration.
Guerrero said he will consider running for the office in November, when the seat would be up for election.
“I’m interested in supporting the school district in moving forward with its goals and its ambitions in educating every child.” Guerrero told the board during his 30-minute interview Tuesday night. “Like I said, I have two young kids and I want to directly affect not only them, but all kids throughout the district.”
That seat represents large portions of Southwest Pasco.
The board interviewed Guerrero and four other candidates before going into a 45-minute, closed-door executive session to discuss their qualifications. They then voted in open session, unanimously choosing Guerrero.
Among the other candidates who interviewed were former school board member Scott Lehrman, who vacated and reapplied for the seat to avoid a conflict of interest, along with Michelle Clark, vice president of TitleOne Washington and sister of former U.S. Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley.
The board also interviewed part-time university lecturer Payden McRoberts and retiree Charles Pratt.
Phillips — who is serving in her fourth term — said they chose Guerrero for his “relatability to the demographics of our school district and his empathetic responses.”
Pasco School District — with a student population that’s 74% Hispanic — now has two Latino board members.
Phillips said there were some concerns about the legality and optics of reappointing Lehrman, who had served on the board since 2013. They were concerned that the board would create the appearance of evading their own rules on ethics.
“Every person on the board has great respect for Scott and he was an excellent board member and we feel that strongly,” she said.
She emphasized in a statement released after the Tri-City Herald’s print deadline: “Scott can run for election again for the position if he chooses in November, but we did not want to take any action that would jeopardize his spouse’s contract or lead to a legal challenge to the appointment process.”
Lehrman and another school board member, Steve Simmons, both resigned in recent months to avoid a conflict of interest so that their spouses could take up jobs in the district.
Simmons had voted in favor of passing a consent agenda at a Nov. 8 meeting that included his wife’s contract as a food service worker, causing the vote to be null and void.
He resigned shortly after taking the oath of office at the Dec. 13 meeting. He had just been elected by the voters to another term.
Instead of reappointing Simmons to the seat, they chose to appoint Rosa Torres at the Feb. 14 meeting.
After the appointment, Lehrman announced at the meeting that he was planning to step down at the end of the month so that his wife could take a permanent teaching position with the school district. He said he planned to reapply.
School board members are not paid for their work.
Sarah Thornton, Pasco School District’s assistant superintendent of legal services, said past legal precedent may open the school district up to a legal challenge if the board were to reappoint a fellow board member.
“Such legal challenges can be disruptive, expensive and undermine the community’s confidence in the foundational ethics of the governing body,” she said in a provided statement.
