A community organizer, a charter school educator, an employment counselor, a technology specialist and a bilingual school aide are vying to be appointed to the Minneapolis school board seat left vacant by the death of Hussein Samatar in August.

The school board plans to interview the five applicants on Oct. 22 at a site yet to be determined, and then make the appointment on Nov. 12, seating the new member on Dec. 10.

The District 3 seat covers an area between Interstate 35W and the Mississippi River, between Cedar Riverside and a line generally following E. 36th Street. The appointee will hold the seat until the end of Samatar's term in late 2014.

The five applicants are:

• Abdulkadir Dahir Abdalla, who is the director of Rochester Science and Math Academy, a kindergarten through eighth-grade charter school. He has helped lead several charter schools. He also has worked as a Minneapolis substitute teacher, and is pursuing a doctorate in education leadership. Abdalla, 57, lists a Bancroft neighborhood address. He said that six of his children have graduated from Minneapolis high schools.

• Ubah Ali Jama, who has been a bilingual program assistant for St. Paul schools and has served on the site council at Seward Montessori School as a 15-year parent volunteer in Minneapolis schools. She is Samatar's widow, and they have four children. Jama, 38, lives in the West Phillips neighborhood.

• Ira Jourdain, who works as a support worker for the Division of Indian Work, and also has worked as an employment counselor at several agencies. He has served on the Minneapolis American Indian Parent Committee. He has two children enrolled in the school district.Jourdain, 37, lives in the East Phillips neighborhood.

• Nicque M. Mabrey, who is associate policy director for OutFront Minnesota, has worked as a state legislative assistant, and for the state DFL Party on voter strategies. She has a degree in social work. Mabrey, 31, lives in the Powderhorn neighborhood.

• Mohamud Noor, who lists himself both as a computer systems administrator for the Minnesota Department of Human Services and as executive director of the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota. He has two children at Lyndale Community School. Noor finished second in the DFL primary for the District 59 seat in northeast Minneapolis in 2011. Noor, 36, lists a Cedar Riverside neighborhood residence.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438