Months of indecision over how to replace a North East Independent Independent School District trustee who died in August ended Monday night when the board voted 5-1 to place the seat on the May 4 ballot along with four other seats, which has the potential of changing the makeup of the seven-member body.
The near-unanimous vote came after state Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins (D- San Antonio) took the board to task for failing to fill the District 2 seat left vacant when Trustee Terri Williams died following a long illness, calling the delay “embarrassing” and “disrespectful.”
Conservative and moderate factions of the board had deadlocked at almost every meeting since August over how to fill Williams’ seat.
“I ask you tonight to reconsider your position on this,” she said. “I have taken this on, as a crusade,” she added, “that indeed we will explore every legal method.”
Her allotted public speaking time was cut off before she finished her thought.
With the order for the special election, the filing deadline for District 2 candidates is March 4 at 5 p.m., according to the district. The seat would be on the ballot again in 2026 when Williams’ original term expires.
The candidate filing period for the seats in Districts 1, 4, 5 and 6 for the May 4 general election begins Jan. 17 and ends Feb. 16 at 5 p.m.
Trustee Sandy Hughey was the sole vote against calling for the special election, saying during the meeting that the board should be full in the months before the May election.
“If it were possible to appoint someone …. I would really appreciate doing that,” she said.
The vote was not taken before more back-and-forth over whether or not to make an appointment instead of calling the election.
The current board has been plagued by increasing partisan rancor in recent months amid disagreements over how to fill the seat and who should fill it.
Politics have creeped into school board governance across the country, with North Texas districts particularly impacted by partisan actors in recent years.
Jacqueline Klein, the second-place contender from the last election who was among four finalists vying for the seat, drew the ire of one faction of the board in the process, while the other faction supported her to fill the vacancy.
The other finalists were also interviewed at one point in the process, but Klein drew much of the attention, with a slew of media reports focused on past social media comments, a lawsuit from the district over unpaid taxes and an incident in which she was detained following an altercation with an Uber driver.
She apologized for the Uber incident and noted in statements that she has since paid all her back taxes.
Klein shares the support of a political action committee whose stated goal is to advance parental rights in education and supports Trustees Diane Sciba Villarreal and Marsha Landry.
The debate over the vacancy occurred against the backdrop of a disagreement over sexual education curriculum. Whoever fills the seat will be the swing vote if the current makeup of the board remains, with 3-3 deadlocks occurring regularly, primarily on issues relating to the vacant seat.
After the meeting, Gervin-Hawkins said that she would be “in the board’s face” pushing for them to appoint someone before the election, something the district’s attorney said is possible even though the election has been called.
“We feel this is an act of discrimination [and] an act of total disrespect for our deceased member,” she said. “Because as you know, North East ISD is really a diverse district. And if you look at the panel now, we have no African American participation, which is wrong.”
