With a 7-1 vote, the Austin ISD board of trustees modified its District 7 application process on Sept. 8 by giving itself until the morning of Sept. 14 to form questions that it will be asking applicants.
Trustee Edmund Gordon voted against the motion to begin compiling questions to ask the two candidates. Originally, the board was set to establish scoring criteria to evaluate applicants, but the conversation shifted after trustee Amber Elenz said it was “incredibly flawed” to establish a criteria now that the applicant submission process has ended and the applicants are publicly known. Elenz added that a trustee could create criteria that might favor one applicant.
Early in the conversation, board President Gina Hinojosa said two people have applied to become the interim District 7 trustee: Yasmin Wagner and Jonathan Dale Sump. The applications from the two are going to be posted on the AISD website on Sept. 9.
In 2014, Wagner ran against District 7 trustee Robert Schneider, but lost with 48 percent of the vote.
Schneider died July 28, causing the District 7 seat on the board to be vacant.
The motion to reconsider setting a set of criteria passed by a 5-3 vote, with trustees Edmund Gordon, Paul Saldaña and Ann Teich opposed.
The idea for trustees to establish questions rather than set a scoring rubric criteria came about after the board recalled how it used a 20-question process when searching for a district superintendent.
The board’s calendar committee will be reviewing the trustees’ questions later in the day on Sept. 13.