Nine people have applied to fill the vacant seat on the Groveport Madison school board.
According to the board, the following individuals are seeking the open seat: Bartley Mullin, Al Wilkins, Mary E. Tedrow, Duane O. Dailey, Judy Lively, Nathan Slonaker, Lisa A. Friesland, Andrea Branham, and Steven Slyh.
According to Board Vice President Dr. Naomi Sealey, the board scheduled interviews with all nine candidates on July 6 and plans to announce who will fill the position at the board’s July 11 meeting.
The entire board participated in the interviews and each board member came up with five questions for the applicants.
"It’s important to interview all the applicants and I’m looking forward to meeting all the candidates," said Sealey.
The person selected will take the seat vacated by Patti Froehlich, who resigned from the board on June 15. The board would fulfill its state requirement to fill the seat within 30 days of Froehlich’s resignation by appointing a new board member on July 11. If the appointment is not made within 30 days, the state would make the appointment.
Froehlich was elected to the board in 2005 and still had two years remaining on her term. Because of this, whoever is picked to take Froehlich’s seat will have to participate in a run-off election for the position on Nov. 6, where they may either run unopposed, or face a challenger who could file to run for the seat. Whoever wins the run-off election in November will fulfill Froehlich’s remaining term, which ends on Dec. 31, 2009.
Froehlich and her family are moving out of the Groveport Madison school district to the Northland area of Columbus. Her husband, Mark Froehlich, is president and CEO of Columbus Urban Growth, which features Northland Park as one of its key projects. Froehlich indicated her children will attend parochial schools.
