After three meetings of discussion, Rondout Valley Central School District has appointed a replacement school board member.

James Malak announced his intention to resign, and the board had been debating whether or not to appoint Justin Swisher, who was the candidate with the most votes and no seat on the board after the last election. This was met with some pushback, so the board conducted interviews of the candidates who expressed interest in filling the vacancy.

After those interviews, the board ultimately decided to appoint Swisher and swore him in at the end of the meeting.

Swisher was appointed 6-2, with board members Cari Kosins and Sidney Hymes voting against it, and will serve on the school board until the next election on May 18, 2027.

“This has been a really long and challenging process for everybody. For me, coming into this as a new board member, it's been really difficult and time-consuming,” board member Matthew Nusbaum said. “That said, I'm really glad that we took our time with this and that we had the discussions we did to get here. I think that this was really valuable for us as a board to learn how to communicate with each other and how to have productive conversations that are tense and complex and strenuous.”

Nusbaum said that he felt “comfortable” supporting Swisher as a board member because of his experience as a teacher, his finance and budget experience and him being a “lifelong community member.”

Board member Paul Bogart, who at the August 18 meeting said that the board was “making a mountain out of a molehill” and “dragging” the process, said that he appreciated everybody who expressed interest in filling the position.

“I know I'm the one who jumped to conclusions and made a motion right away. At the time I felt through past practices that the board had handled in the past it was the easiest route to go since we just had an election,” Bogart said. “But I am okay with listening to these people, and I would honestly feel okay working with anyone at some point.”

The next Rondout Board of Education meeting will be held on September 15.