The Christian County Board of Education held a special called meeting Monday afternoon to begin the process of replacing District 4 board member Michael Walker after he resigned from the school board seat.
Superintendent Chris Bentzel told board members he had received a resignation letter from Walker.
click to download audioThe board accepted Walker’s resignation by a 3-1 vote with Lindsey Clark casing the lone nay vote.
Board attorney Jack Lackey, Jr. then discussed the District 4 vacancy and how the board needs to proceed with filling the seat. He says the law has changed since the last time there was a vacancy on the board which previously was filled by the commissioner of education. He says that is still an option but the board has about a two-month period to choose an applicant to serve out the remainder of Walker’s term.
click to download audioIn order for the board to make the appointment, Lackey said they needed to authorize Superintendent Bentzel to advertise and post a notice of the vacancy in the local newspaper and other media for at least two weeks.
click to download audioAfter a few questions and some discussion, board members voted unanimously to move forward with filling the District 4 seat by advertising and posting a notice of the vacancy.
Walker was not at the meeting and no reason was given as to why he was resigning from his seat. He was elected in 2020 to represent District 4 which includes the southwest end of Christian County including South Christian Elementary.
At a school board meeting on August 19, 2021, the board voted 3-2 in favor of the BG-1 for the construction of a consolidated high school with board members Mike Walker and Lindsey Clark casting the no votes. At that same meeting, Walker was the lone no vote on approving the $6 million purchase of approximately 87.1 acres of property for the construction of the consolidated school.
At the school board’s July 21 meeting, after Superintendent Bentzel cited bids for building the new consolidated school came in “much higher than expected”, board members rejected the construction bids of $199 and $203 million. After the vote, the board of education did not discuss their future plans for the consolidated high school.
