House OK'd for city school seat

SOUTH PORTLAND — The South Portland City Council made it official last week, voting unanimously to appoint Mary House to an at-large seat on the Board of Education at a meeting Nov. 19.

House replaces Jeffrey Selser, who resigned Sept.7 to accept a coaching job at Mahoney Middle School. She will serve until November 2013, when a special election will be held to fill the final year on Selser’s three-year term.

House, 41, of Elderberry Drive, is a project manager at Woodard & Curran, a Portland-based civil engineering firm, an occupation that seemed to impress many councilors keen on improving student achievement in science and math. She was nominated for the position following a two-hour council interview session with six applicants on Nov. 13.

“I was absent from the question-and-answer period, but I was able to view entire [session] on videotape,” said Councilor Tom Blake, slated to be inaugurated as mayor Dec. 3. “I also had an opportunity to review the six cover letters and resumes.

“I do concur that the best candidate is Mary House, although I want to clearly state that all candidates were truly outstanding,” said Blake.

The other applicants were former school board Chairman Ralph Baxter Jr., retired S.D. Warren research chemist Roger Allen, Southern Maine Community College’s Director of Student Life Tiffanie Bentley, Delhaize America supply chain manager Pam Koonz Canarie and Jeffrey McDonald, a sales manager at Welch Signage in Scarborough.

Blake praised the “very professional” interview process and asked how it might be formalized, given that the city charter, while empowering the council to fill vacant school board seats until a regularly-scheduled election, is silent on the process to be followed.

City Manager Jim Gailey answered that he is drafting rules that, due to the trouble it would be to amend the charter, he expects to be adopted as an addendum to the council’s standing rules.

“One we put some final touches on it, we will be running that document by the City Council,” he said. “That will make sure that it’s solidified in history, so that five years, 10 years down the road, if this comes up again, the guidelines and the process are all mapped out.”

“I like that,” said Blake. “I think most important, going forward, I would like our citizenry to be able to find that and utilize that.”

However, while the public may be able to access in the future how potential appointees to the school board are to be selected, there is no guarantee the city will distribute information on who its applicants are.

Based on the advice of the city's attorney, Sally Daggett, responding to a Freedom of Access Act request by The Current, Gailey refused to release the application materials referenced by Blake. Although the applicants were in the running for what is normally an elected position, Daggett cited their personal privacy rights as “city employees.”