Schools

Ending Selection Process Early, School Board Appoints New Member

In reversal of previous decision to interview applicants until Nov. 21, board decided to appoint candidate who ran in last election.

The Port Jefferson school board and appointed James Laffey to the position on Tuesday night.

Laffey came in third when he ran for one of two open seats in against Robert Ramus and Isak Prohovnik.

According to school board president Mark Doyle, the board voted to end the process and appoint Laffey to the board after it was determined that he was interested in the position. Only one other person submitted an application by the time the board made its decision.

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The school board originally gave residents until Nov. 21 to submit resumes for consideration to fill the seat left vacant by Frey when he .

On Tuesday, the board made a motion to reverse their previous decision to hold an application and interview process and instead appoint the third place candidate from the last election. The motion was approved by a vote of 4 -2 with Lauren Hubbard and Doyle opposing.

Find out what's happening in Port Jeffersonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The board reversed its decision because some of the trustees felt that there was no way to effectively pick one candidate from all of the applicants.

“The majority was concerned that we wouldn't be able to identify and use objective criteria to screen candidates and opted for a process that they felt would limit the subjectivity of the Board's decision,” said Doyle.

A second motion to appoint Laffey was unanimous. He will serve out the remainder of Frey’s term until May 15, 2012.

In a statement to the community, the school board thanked anyone who submitted an application or planned to before the deadline and encouraged those interested in serving on the board to run in future elections.


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