Dover School Board seeks candidates for open seat
DOVER (WJER) (June 13, 2023) – The Dover Board of Education has a tight time frame by the end of the month to fill a vacancy.
Bob Everett, who was recently hired as director of safety and security at Buckeye Career Center, has resigned from Dover’s school board after legal counsel determined it would be a conflict for him to hold both positions. He made the announcement during Monday night’s school board meeting.
“I would like to offer my sincere and utmost thanks, to the voters of the Dover City School District, who elected me to this office in November of 2021, but I cannot risk my integrity nor the integrity of the Buckeye Career Center or the Dover City School District, so I must resign from my elected position,” Everett wrote in a media release. “To vacate this position is completely uncharacteristic of me, but I must do what the law requires.”
Superintendent Karie McCrate said the board is now seeking candidates to take his seat through the end of this year. However, the term goes through 2025, and voters in this fall’s election will decide who serves the final two years.
“Because there’s still time to file to run, somebody would need to file to run for that seat on the ballot in November and be elected,” said McCrate.
School Board President Kyle Stemple says it is important to choose someone now who intends to also serve those last two years of the term.
“Hopefully we can find somebody that does want to run, that we can appoint them and kind of get their feet under them,” Stemple said. “There’s a little bit of a learning curve.”
Candidates should send letters of interest to Board of Education President Kyle Stemple at 228 West 6th Street, Dover, Ohio 44622, or to stemplek@dovertornadoes.com. Letters of interest are due by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, June 20, 2023.
The board will then meet June 30th to make its selection for the vacant position.
Everett, meanwhile, said his goodbyes Monday and thanked the voters who put him on the school board in the November 2021 election.
“At that particular time, I had no idea, although some may have thought I had a crystal ball,” said Everett. “I did not, and I had no idea this position would ever come to be.”
School board members offered Everett their well wishes.