Toledo Board of Education members wasted little time Thursday before choosing former board member Rev. Randall Parker III to fill the remaining two-year term of a vacant board seat — marking the second consecutive time he’s been selected to the role.
Board members chose Rev. Parker from among 10 applicants during their organizational meeting to fill the seat vacated in early December by Stephanie Eichenberg, who resigned because she and her family were moving out of the district.
Rev. Parker, a current Democratic Party executive committee member and program coordinator for Read for Literacy, was also the eventual choice for the board in April, 2015 to fill a seat vacated by Cecelia Adams, who resigned because she was appointed to Toledo City Council.
He then lost his election bid for the seat that year when Mrs. Eichenberg and Perry Lefevre — a social studies teacher at Northview High School in Sylvania — won seats.
Unlike the 2015 instance when board members were initially stuck in a three-way split between Rev. Parker and two other candidates, this time the board quickly fell behind board member Sheena Barnes’ nomination of Rev. Parker at the start of Thursday’s meeting.
With no further discussion after the nominations, board members voted unanimously and Rev. Parker was sworn in — surrounded by his wife and three children — before taking his seat among the other four board members.
“I am very honored,” he said after the meeting. “I have always been a TPS parent with my children, and the last time I was here, they were all children of Glenwood Elementary School and so now they’re juniors and a graduate of Scott High School.”
He added that he does plan on running again for the seat before his term expires and. But in the meantime, he said he is heartened by the support he has received by his fellow board members and intends to hit the ground running to tackle the various challenges facing the district.
“I think it’s a sign of the work that I did previously when I was on the board because I wanted to work hard, I wanted to make a difference, I wanted to be a piece of that puzzle for the success of our district,” he said of the board’s vote.
Following Thursday’s meeting, Ms. Barnes said Rev. Parker stood out to her as someone who is active in the community and also has experience serving on the board.
“Overall, just his presence in the community, his resume, and then the knowledge of what we’re going to have to go through as school board members moving forward with things coming from the state level that are hindering us,” she said.
Also among the 10 applicants was Mr. Lefevre, who served on the board from 2016-2019. He also was in attendance Thursday and said he accepts the board’s decision, even if it didn’t go his way.
“ I support their decision fully,” he said after the meeting. “I was here in a position to offer my help because they needed a board member and I have some experience, and they choose who they want to work with and I appreciate that, based on my experience.”
Others who applied for the open seat were Elgin Rogers, Jr., a division manager Lucas County who, like Rev. Parker, serves on the Lucas County Democratic Party executive committee; Penny Tullis, who previously served as the YWCA youth development director; Kamille Berry, a teacher at Robinson Elementary School; Valerie Smith, corporate environmental health and safety specialist for The Andersons Inc.; Melvin Jackson, a financial service professional; Jeffrey Lewis, a social worker who now is an ambulatory care manager for Mercy Health; Tiera Taylor, a registered nurse; and Robert Worthington, who unsuccessfully ran as a 2018 candidate for District 44 Ohio House of Representatives and made two failed bids for Toledo City Council.
Thursday’s vote was the public’s first glimpse as to whom school board members preferred to fill the vacant school board seat, with the board choosing instead to discuss the list behind closed doors in executive session.
Of the previous five appointments to fill board vacancies, three at least included public interviews of candidates.
That wasn’t the case in 2015 — the last time the board had to fill a vacancy because board member Cecelia Adams was appointed to Toledo City Council. During that time, much of the appointment process was held behind closed doors, with candidate interviews also held in executive session during a weekend meeting.
This time, the board opted to fast-track the process and forego candidate interviews — both by the board and by the local Democratic Party — in an effort to select a new board member by the end of December. But the district then twice canceled meetings for the board to select a replacement because at least one board member contracted coronavirus.
In other business Thursday, the board unanimously voted for Polly Taylor-Gerken to serve as Toledo school board President and Ms. Barnes to serve as board vice president. Previously, Chris Varwig served as president and Ms. Taylor-Gerken was vice president.
First Published January 6, 2022, 11:09 p.m.
