Fayette school board will vote next month on new chairman

With the death of Fayette County Board of Education chairman John Price, the school board will elect a new chair at its next meeting, district spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said Wednesday.

That will be March 10 at the board’s planning session, Deffendall said.

If the new chairman is vice chairperson Melissa Bacon, who has been presiding in Price’s absence since November, the board then would elect a new vice chair from among the three other members of the board: Doug Barnett, Amanda Ferguson and Daryl Love.

Price, 62, died Tuesday after a more than two-year battle with leukemia. He had served on the board since 2003.

Under state law, Kentucky Education Commissioner Stephen Pruitt must appoint someone to fill Price’s spot on the board within 90 days. The appointment will be effective until the end of 2016, which would have been the end of Price’s term. The next four-year term will be filled in the November general election.

As part of Pruitt’s selection of a replacement, the district will have to advertise for candidates for the position, state education officials said Wednesday. Then, the state Department of Education will create a panel to screen the candidates. The panel could include members of other local school boards or recently retired educators. That panel would be chaired by an attorney who works for the Department of Education. The panel then would make recommendations to Pruitt.

An applicant must be at least 24 years old, a voter in the school district, a Kentucky resident for three years, and a high school graduate or GED recipient. An applicant can’t hold a state office or be a member of a board that has the ability to tax, and can’t hold a civil or political office.

The applicant can’t be directly or indirectly involved in the sale to the board of anything, including services, paid for with school funds.

Applicants can’t have been removed from a school board or have certain immediate family members employed by the district.

Funeral arrangements set

Visitation for Price will be 3 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Milward Funeral Directors-North Broadway. A funeral Mass will be at 1:30 p.m. Friday at St. Peter Catholic Church in Lexington. A reception at Fayette County Public Schools’ district office on East Main Street will follow the burial.

Price’s survivors include his daughter, Allison Courtney Crosby; his mother, Janella Wathen Price; and his sisters Janella Thomas Price and Margaret Griffin.

Contributions are suggested to Lexington Humane Society, Woodford Humane Society, St. Peter Catholic Church or 16th District PTA Scholarship Fund (1126 Russell Cave Road, Lexington KY 40505), which gives scholarships to seniors at each Fayette County high school.

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Fayette school board will vote next month on new chairman."