Applications are open to fill District 49’s school board vacancy
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Colorado Springs District 49 school board member Deb Schmidt stepped down from her position in late February to “honor commitments to her family” and the school board is now looking to fill the vacancy. Applications are open through March 18.
“We’re hoping to see more [applications]," said Marie Lavere-Wright, D49’s school board president.
Typically, someone interested in becoming a school board member must win an election, which occurs every two years. But per Colorado state law, a school board may appoint a new board member through an application process when there is a vacancy. The next school board election won’t be until the fall of 2027.
David Nancarrow, the communications director for District 49, wrote the following in an email to RMPBS:
“The School District 49 Board of Education will select a representative to fill the vacancy in Director District 2 in accordance with state law. This position will be filled by appointment within sixty days from the initial February 25 announcement of vacancy. Interested persons are invited to submit a completed application packet to the Executive Assistant to the Board of Education by 4:00 p.m. on March 18, 2026.
If the appointment is not made by the Board within the sixty-day time period, the Board President may make the appointment.”
The vacancy follows last year’s particularly contentious school board elections where new school board member Holly Withers won by a mere 17 votes over former school board member Jamilynn D'Avola.
D’Avola, like Schmidt, voted in favor of controversial policies that targeted the district’s transgender students, like a ban on transgender athletes from sports and a policy that required students to use the bathroom associated with their biological sex. The bathroom policy was repealed in January.
All school board positions are non-partisan, but of the current four board members, 3 voted to repeal the bathroom policy.
More information on how to apply for the school board position can be found here.
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