GISD receives no applications to fill vacant Flint Board of Ed seat, approves new policy

Flint, MI–The Genesee Intermediate School District (GISD) Board of Education has updated the process to fill a vacant seat on Flint Community Schools Board of Education, given that GISD received no applications for the seat by its deadline.

At an Oct. 17, 2022 meeting, the GISD Board unanimously approved appointing the candidate who receives the highest number of votes to fill one of the 6-year term seats on the Flint Schools Board in the Nov. 8, 2022, general election.

Once election results are determined, the GISD Board will hold a special meeting to appoint the candidate to serve the remainder of the vacated seat’s term, which ends on Dec. 31, 2022, before beginning their newly elected term.

“Given the relatively short remainder of the vacated term and the timeliness of the upcoming general election,” an Oct. 17 GISD Office of the Superintendent press release reads, “the GISD Board of Education believes that this updated process will allow the residents of the Flint Community Schools to determine the make-up of the Flint Community Schools Board of Education, including the individual to fulfill the remaining two months of the vacated term.” 

The vacant seat was previously filled by Danielle Green who resigned in late August as part of a condition to dismiss her case, which has been adjourned, for allegedly assaulting board member Laura MacIntyre.

Following Green’s resignation, Flint Schools Board had 30 days to appoint a new member to the seat. While Flint Schools received an application submitted by Dr. Laura Sullivan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Kettering University, the Board did not take action to vote on whether to appoint Sullivan. 

The responsibility, therefore, shifted to the GISD Board to fill the vacant seat. Without any applications submitted to the GISD Board by the deadline on Oct. 13, 2022, it canceled the Oct. 18, 2022, candidate interviews at the Legacy Auditorium of the Erwin L. Davis Education Center.