QUINCY— There was an empty chair at the Quincy School District’s last meeting.

Board member for district 3 Alan Balciar resigned following a move to Ephrata.

“We will miss Alan but it makes sense because he no longer lives here,” said board president Tricia Lubach. “We are working now to set up a process to interview applicants.”

Board members discussed a plan to change from five director districts to three, with two at-large positions set in place for the school board.

“The benefit of doing this is that there would be better help and presentation for citizens,” said superintendent Burton Dickerson.

School districts in Washington State typically have five elected board members. The district property is divided into five districts, with board members residing in and representing each district.

“The problem with having five director districts is that when people file to run for office, we have to have a replacement live in the one-fifth district spot available,” Dickerson said. “With the new idea of two large positions, people in those spots can live anywhere.”

This will also mean more voices will be heard.

“We have a wide variety of demographics within communities,” Dickerson said. “This change means we wouldn’t have board members only representing one part or one concern, but we’d be able to have a representation from all parts of the district.”

This idea will be presented to the board on the next meeting in July for approval.

If approved, the  Grant County Auditor will be notified by Aug. 11. The auditor would place this issue on the general election ballot for public approval on Nov. 3.

“This would be a good thing to do because it would provide greater access to citizen participants,” Dickerson said. “It would make the open positions more available than they have been to a wider array of individuals within the districts.”

Originally published June 29, 2009