Board to discuss Samatar vacancy

If you live in Cedar Riverside, the Powderhorn Community or the northern half of the Longfellow Community, you're eligible to apply for the school board seat vacated by the death last month of Hussein Samatar. The school board is expected to discuss its process for appointing a successor to Samatar when it meets on Tuesday. Board policy calls for the board to fill the seat,, a process that last time took about seven weeks from Lydia Lee's announcement of her departure until the successor was selected. Chair Alberto Monserrate said he expects the board to use much the same process this time. There's some interest in having the finalists interviewed by community members as well as the board. Five finalists were interviewed for Lee's city-wide seat. The District 3 seat represents a hunk of the South Side that's east of Interstate 35W and stretches between Cedar Riverside and mostly E. 36th St. The new board member will need to live within that area. There's interest among some board members in retaining a Somali-American on the board, given the prominence of Somali immigrants in the district's population.