Amarillo is one step closer to knowing who will replace James Allen on the Amarillo Independent School District Board of Trustees.
On Tuesday night, the Amarillo ISD Board named four finalists in the search to replace longtime trustee James Allen. The replacement process began earlier this summer after Allen, who had served the Amarillo ISD area since the late 1990's, abruptly resigned.
According to a Facebook post from trustee John Betancourt, the finalists for the seat are Claudia Stuart, Robin Malone, Bowden Jones and Sherrie Clark. All four finalists will be scheduled for interviews, which will begin on September 6th.
Of the four finalists, members of the Amarillo Branch NAACP suggested Malone and Stuart for the job during a meeting in June. Malone is an attorney, presently working at Amarillo College, and Stuart is an author and teacher.
This is most recent appointment process for AISD in recent memory. Since 2016, both the then-Amarillo City Council and Amarillo College Board of Regents were forced to initiate replacement processes for members on their respective bodies. In those processes, Lisa Blake and Jay L. Barrett were selected as the replacements, respectively.
As Allen was re-elected to a four year term in 2017, the person who is appointed to this seat will serve until a special election is held in May 2019. The person who wins that special election will then hold the seat through May 2021.
A replacement is expected to be selected next month.
Trustee James Allen during a 2017 campaign commercial