Forest Lake board names next-highest 2024 vote‑getter as preferred finalist, sets Dec. 3 interviews and Dec. 4 appointment

Forest Lake Area Schools board members on the evening of the regular November meeting moved to formalize the process for filling a recent board vacancy and named the next‑highest vote‑getter from the 2024 school board election as a preferred finalist.

The chair read a list of applicants and said the board had identified Laura Durango as the highest unelected vote‑getter in 2024; the board adopted a resolution naming Durango the preferred finalist and directing administration to schedule interviews for all applicants. The resolution, which passed on a roll call following discussion, sets committee interviews for Dec. 3 at 5:05 p.m. and schedules a special order of business at the Dec. 4 board meeting to adopt a resolution appointing one of the selected finalists to the vacant seat.

Under the adopted process, the board will form two subcommittees. Each committee will meet immediately after the Dec. 3 interviews (in open session under Minnesota's open‑meeting rules) and may nominate up to two finalists to join Durango for consideration by the full board on Dec. 4. The chair said the intent is for committees to work in the open and then reconvene as a full board to announce finalists.

Interview logistics were set by the board: each applicant will be offered a 20‑minute interview slot; each board member will have three minutes to ask up to three questions, and the first question each member asks must come from a list of standardized questions provided to candidates in advance. The board directed administrative staff (referred to in the meeting as Joy) to coordinate scheduling and notify applicants.

Board members discussed fairness, transparency and logistics at length. Dr. Massey, who advised the board on interview structure, said a common set of questions helps the board compare candidates consistently: "There is value in a common set of questions," he said. Members also debated whether to livestream interviews; the board agreed that the interview portion could be livestreamed but that committee deliberations would remain the committee's open‑meeting deliberative time and not be livestreamed.

The board chair read the applicant names into the record and said administration received 11 applications. The names read into the record included Glenn Berg, Andy Kornea, Scott Dobozinski, Princesa Hansen, Kenneth Rutford, Paul Pease, Jeff Peterson, Tom Schultz Zettenberg, Jim Smith and Daniel Towle; the chair said the list totaled 11 applicants. The resolution the board passed authorizes administration to finalize the interview schedule and directs the two subcommittees to present their finalist nominations at the Dec. 4 meeting.

The board voted to approve the resolution by roll call; the chair said the ayes carried and the motion passed. The resolution moves the committee interview date from Dec. 1 to Dec. 3 to accommodate member schedules and instructs staff to livestream the portions of the Dec. 3 meeting conducted by the full board.

The board will return Dec. 4 to consider the finalists nominated by the subcommittees and to vote on a formal appointment to the seat vacated by a prior member.

Provenance: Discussion and the resolution appear throughout the vacancy item (see meeting transcript between SEG 446 and SEG 2772).