PORT TOWNSEND — Constance Welch, the lone applicant for the post, has been named the newest member of the Port Townsend School Board.
Welch, 64, was appointed to fill a vacancy created when the board’s chairwoman, Holley Carlson, 51, submitted her resignation June 7.
The appointment of Welch, a former teacher in the Port Townsend School District, received unanimous approval by current board members Monday night.
She will be sworn in at the board’s next regular meeting at 6 p.m. Sept. 28 in the Gael Stuart Building, 1610 Blaine St.
Welch will serve out Carlson’s unexpired term, which ends in December 2017.
“I’m not exactly sure what I’m in for, but I don’t think it’s too scary,” Welch said during an interview session with the board that preceded the vote.
“The surroundings are familiar, so I feel like I have a good grasp on things.”
Grew up in city
Welch, who grew up in Port Townsend, began teaching in the district in 1986 and retired in 2014.
She taught grades 2-6 at Grant Street Elementary, Blue Heron Middle School and the former Mountain View Elementary.
Board members Pam Daly, Nathanael O’Hara, Keith White and Jennifer James-Wilson supported Welch’s appointment.
Welch said she was recruited by James-Wilson after no other applicants came forward.
“I hadn’t really considered being on the School Board, but I’d already talked with Jennifer about the possibility of building a new elementary school,” Welch said.
“That is my draw, and I already know the school pretty well.”
Since Carlson resigned, Daly has served as chair.
She will remain in that position until her term expires at the end of this year.
The board is expected to select new officers at its first meeting in 2016.
Daly is not running for re-election. Laura Tucker is the only candidate who filed for her seat.
O’Hara and White, both appointed in place of resigned board members, are also unopposed in their pursuit of a full four-year term this fall.
Until that election, the board will function with three appointed members.
Carlson said in her resignation letter that she had used poor judgment by participating in a toast with “an incremental amount of alcohol” on school grounds May 29 at the end of an eighth-grade dinner-dance she helped chaperone.
No children were present, she said, but the toast with alcohol violated the school district’s zero-tolerance policy concerning drugs and alcohol.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
