Blue Mountain School District has posted an agenda for Wednesday night’s special school board meeting. There’s still no indication of who is resigning.
The meeting is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday. In an email Tuesday, the district said that because of the crowd it expects, the meeting has been moved from the District Office to the Middle School Cafetorium.
The agenda lists a “Resignation of Board Member” item, followed by interviews of candidates to fill what it calls a “potential vacancy,” an appointment and an oath of office. No board member is named anywhere on it. No candidates are named either.
All nine current board members are still listed in the roll call at the top of the agenda: Janice Blair, John Campomizzi Sr., Timothy Grube, Roy Heim, Rebecca Miller, Krista Strause, Megan Troutman-Meisner, Michelle Vesay and Rosanne Zelusky.
Coal Region Canary has again reached out to every member of the board. Miller, Meisner, Zelusky and Strause have each said they are not the one stepping down. The other five have not responded.
Those four are also the four who voted in July against the 2026-27 budget and the 5% tax increase that came with it. The five who voted for it – Vesay, Blair, Campomizzi, Heim and Grube – are the five who haven’t answered Coal Region Canary’s emails.
The board’s last regular meeting in July drew more than 30 people, most of them there to raise concerns about spending and staffing. Members approved the 2026-27 budget and the 5% property tax increase that came with it by a 5-4 vote.
What Happens Next
No deadline was given to the public on expressing interest in the open board seat caused by the potential resignation on Wednesday. However, tomorrow night’s meeting agenda lays out what the board intends to do Wednesday, and it plans to handle all of it in one night.
After taking up the resignation, members will interview candidates for the seat. Those interviews are listed on the public agenda. From there, the agenda moves to an appointment and then an oath of office, meaning Blue Mountain could have a new board member sworn in before the meeting ends.
That’s permitted. State law gives boards 30 days to fill a vacancy but sets no waiting period, and nothing requires a district to advertise the opening or set an application deadline. The agenda says only that anyone interested should notify the board president.
Getting a new member seated Wednesday takes five votes. Once the resignation takes effect, eight members are left, and the Public School Code requires a majority of those remaining members to agree on a replacement. With eight seated, that’s five.
There is no tiebreaker. If it comes back 4-4, that’s a failed vote and nothing happens.
If that’s how Wednesday goes, the last two items on the agenda simply don’t occur. No appointment, no oath, and the board finishes the rest of its agenda with eight members and an empty seat.
From there the board has 30 days from the date the vacancy occurs. If the resignation takes effect Wednesday, that’s a deadline of roughly Friday, Sept. 4.
Two meetings are already on the calendar before then: a Committee of the Whole meeting on Aug. 17 and a regular meeting on Aug. 24, both set for 6:30 p.m. Members can also call additional special meetings. A deadlock Wednesday wouldn’t be the end of it.
Voters don’t get a say in any of this. There’s no immediate special election for the seat. The remaining members appoint someone, and while the public can speak at the meeting, the public doesn’t vote.
If the board still can’t agree after 30 days, a judge can settle it. State law lets any 10 or more resident taxpayers in the district file a petition with the Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas, and the court then appoints someone to the seat.
However, somebody has to actually file that petition in County Court. The court doesn’t step in on its own, and if nobody petitions, the seat can sit empty. Board members can still make an appointment right up until a judge signs an order.
Whoever gets the seat won’t keep it long but they will vote on the next budget up for consideration for 2027-28. State law says an appointee serves only until the first Monday of December following the next municipal election. Pennsylvania holds those in odd-numbered years, so there isn’t one this fall. The next is November 2027, which puts the end date at Dec. 6, 2027.
What happens then depends on whose seat it is. Terms expiring in 2027 belong to Vesay, Grube, Strause, Miller, and Campomizzi. Terms expiring in 2029 belong to Blair, Heim, Meisner, and Zelusky.
If it’s a 2027 seat, the appointee finishes the term and it goes on next year’s ballot as a normal four-year seat. If it’s a 2029 seat, the appointee is cut off in December 2027 anyway and the final two years go on the ballot as a separate, shorter term. That would put six of the board’s nine seats before voters in November 2027.
More From Coal Region Canary
See all stories ›
Flood Watch Issued for Schuylkill County on Thursday
5 hours ago
Nabholz Has Allowed Just 1 Earned Run in 5 Appearances Since Promotion to Eugene
12 hours ago
Schuylkill County Man Used Brother’s Name During Traffic Stop Because He’d Been Sentenced to Jail for Driving on a Suspended License
13 hours ago
Barton Cards Sub-70 Round to Pace Haven; Blue Mountain Sweeps Tri-Match
15 hours ago
PennDOT to Host Winter Job Fair in Schuylkill County
17 hours ago
Schuylkill County Man Wanted After Police Say He Traded Nude Photos With 16-Year-Old
18 hours agoSubscribe to Coal Region Canary
Get email updates from Coal Region Canary by becoming a subscriber today. Just enter your email address below to get started!Support Coal Region Canary
Like our reporting and want to support truly local news in Schuylkill County? Your small donations help. For as little as $5, your contribution will allow us to cover more news that directly affects you. Consider donating today by hitting the big yellow button below ...