Six candidates have applied for a vacant Goleta Union School District seat, including a local celebrity of sorts: Andrew Firestone, a former star of The Bachelor.
On Monday, the Board of Trustees will conduct interviews to fill the seat of president Pam Kinsley, who resigned from the board in February.
“It’s a great turnout and we look forward to interviewing them, and hopefully can make a decision that day,” trustee Valerie Kushnerov told Noozhawk.
The six candidates are Therese Adame, Firestone, Nancy Knight, Doug Martin, Luz Reyes-Martin and Alexander Saunders.
Adame is a former school administrator from Riverside County who moved to the area a few years ago, district Superintendent Bill Banning said.
Firestone, son of Brooks Firestone, a former assemblyman and Santa Barbara County supervisor, has three young children, one of whom will be a kindergartener in the district next year. A local business executive and frequent guest emcee at nonprofit events, Firestone starred in the ABC-TV reality series, The Bachelor, in 2003, although he later married actress/model Ivana Božilović instead.
Knight worked in the district for 28 years, first as a teacher at Hollister School and then as Kellogg School’s principal. She retired in 2012.
Martin is a former GUSD trustee and longtime community member while Reyes-Martin works as a management analyst for the City of Goleta’s Neighborhood Services and Public Safety department, Banning said.
Saunders is a local attorney who has a child entering kindergarten next year.
Five of the candidates will be interviewed at Monday’s meeting, while Martin — who cannot attend — videotaped an interview at the district office earlier. That video will be shown during the meeting, Banning said.
The district will appoint a replacement to serve the rest of Kinsley’s term, which ends Dec. 5., instead of holding a special election.
Kushnerov said she hopes the new trustee will run for a full four-year term in November since three seats are up for election. Kinsley and Kushnerov won’t be running for re-election and Richard Mayer hasn’t indicated what his plans are.
The new trustee will start serving in mid-April.
“In spring, we’re dealing with our budget and of course, the Common Core transition, so we want to have someone in there sooner rather than later,” Kushnerov said.
Board members will start interviews at 8:30 a.m. Monday at the district office, 401 N. Fairview Ave. in Goleta.
— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.