With trial still months away, Amy Word's future on EVSC school board is unclear

EVANSVILLE — Waiting for Amy Word after she navigates the felony criminal charge she faces is a less urgent but arguably more impactful question: What about her seat on the EVSC school board?

Word, who was elected to a four-year term in 2020, isn't providing any answers. She did not acknowledge phone and text messages about her school board seat, which comes up for election again next year.

Word, who owns Lamasco Bar & Grill and the popular, upscale restaurant Amy's on Franklin, has been on an unpaid leave of absence from the school board since her July 2022 arrest. She has pleaded not guilty to one count of the Level 6 felony, "maintaining a common nuisance – controlled substances," and has mounted a spirited public defense against the charge linking her to drug use and dealing at Lamasco.

More: Ahead of trial, Amy Word and her attorney go on the offensive against witnesses, police

Elections for the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. Board of Trustees are nonpartisan, but Word is a self-proclaimed Democrat. She acknowledged after her election in 2020 that some Democrats had asked her to consider running for the school board. When she did, she was the top vote-getter in a field of four candidates. She also reported more than $13,000 in contributions in the months before the election, far surpassing any other candidate.

But Vanderburgh County's Democratic Party chair doesn't want to talk about Word now.

"I haven’t talked to Amy in a year or two. I don’t want to comment on anything regarding Amy," said party chair Cheryl Schultz. "No comment."

Told that the Courier & Press was seeking comment on Word's viability as a school board candidate next year and not her criminal case, Schultz replied: "No comment straight across the board."

More: A judge granted two witnesses immunity to testify against school board member Amy Word

The question of whether Word will seek re-election could be settled for her if she is ultimately convicted of the felony charge.

"She could be removed by a court for two reasons: conviction of a felony or abandonment of office," EVSC attorney Pat Shoulders said last week.

The attorney's assertion is supported by Indiana state law.

Shoulders informed the school board last year that should Word's seat become vacant, the board would have to fill it in 30 days or else state law dictates that a Circuit Court judge would fill it.

"This board can’t remove her," Shoulders told the Courier & Press last week. "All the board has done is said that they wouldn’t accuse her of abandoning her office because she’s not here."

More: EVSC board approves leave of absence for Amy Word following July 30 arrest

School Board President Chris Kiefer asked Word to resign after her arrest last year, but she declined. Word's board-approved leave of absence, which has extended a year now, will continue throughout the resolution of her criminal case, Shoulders and Kiefer said last week.

Shoulders and Kiefer said the request for Word's resignation was made in hopes of avoiding "a distraction" to board operations. In her letter to the board asking for the temporary leave of absence, Word cited "recent events and attendant publicity falsely accusing me of legal violations of which I am innocent" and said she didn't want to distract from the school board's work.

The only state law that specifically addresses leaves of absence for elected officials − and EVSC school board policy − applies when someone is called to active military duty. But the Indiana School Boards Association has said the state's "home rule" statute gives the school board authority to approve Word's leave.

For now at least, Word's portrait remains up in the school board's meeting room alongside photos of the other six members. And it could still be there after her trial.

Word and her defense attorney have publicly disputed several key allegations put forth by investigators in her case. The trial is scheduled to begin March 4 at an as yet-undisclosed location outside Vanderburgh County.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Word's future on EVSC school board still unclear with trial months away