Kim Ellison is the newest Minneapolis school board member, replacing Lydia Lee, who will resign effective at year's end.
Ellison, an executive assistant at Community Action Partnership of Ramsey and Washington counties, will be sworn in during the board's Jan. 10 meeting.
The former wife of U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, she is also the Education Committee chairwoman for the Minneapolis NAACP, sits on the North High School Advisory Committee and is a board member for Parents United for Public Schools.
The school board selected Ellison from among five finalists using a secret ballot, ranked voting system. She beat out four others finalists — Peggy Clark, David Joseph DeGrio, Brooke Magid Hart and former board member Theartrice "T" Williams.
Under state law, Lee was prohibited from voting to select her successor.