WATSONVILLE >> With Trustee Jennifer Holm’s seat on the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees soon to become vacant, the board voted 5-1 to fill the seat by making a provisional appointment rather than a special election at its regular Wednesday meeting.

Holm, who has served on the board since 2018, announced her resignation Sept. 3 citing increasing demands over her role as the director of Cabrillo College’s nursing program. Her seat, which encompasses Area 7 and is not up for election until 2026, will become vacant Oct. 10.

Superintendent Heather Contreras said this vacancy presented the district with two options: fill the seat through a special election or by appointing a trustee to serve the remainder of Holm’s term. She said a special election would cost the district $80,000 from the general fund’s unrestricted funds and would occur around March at the earliest. The process to appoint would involve advertising in local media to solicit applications or nominations, Contreras holding an informational session for interested applicants, a committee consisting of less than a quorum of the board ensuring applicants are eligible for board membership, the board announcing the names of eligible candidates, the board interviewing the candidates in a public meeting with oral and written public input, and then selecting the appointee by a majority vote.

A handful of public speakers addressed the board, all in favor of a special election. Nelly Vaquera-Boggs, president of the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers, said it would be the most democratic option.

“A special election would allow the constituents of Area 7 to vote for their person,” she said.

Gabriel Medina, a candidate in this year’s Area 3 election, said allowing citizens to vote for the trustee would help build back trust in the board, which he felt has been eroded.

“While a special election may cost a bit, it’s an investment in democracy and accountability,” he said.

Chris Webb, a social studies teacher at Renaissance High School, said a special election would be most beneficial.

“I trust the voters,” he said. “They elected Holm in the first place.”

Holm said she was in favor of an appointment option because district voters would still be able to remove them via petition if they were not in favor of the process.

“I get the hesitation about that, but they do have that right,” she said. “It would be incumbent on this board to choose wisely if they chose to consider appropriate representation.”Trustee Adam Bolaños Scow, who himself was appointed to the board last year following Maria Orozco’s election to the Watsonville City Council, said he was torn because special elections generally have low turnouts but emphasized that his situation was different because Holm ran unopposed in her most recent election while Scow received 2,400 votes in his bid against Orozco in 2020.

“We’d be appointing somebody that got 0 votes, and that is a little unsettling,” he said.

Trustee Olivia Flores said the board has a history of making appointments to fill vacancies and also emphasized that the board could have two vacant seats in the near future if Kim De Serpa wins her bid for the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. If successful, De Serpa said she would remain in her school board seat until sworn into the Board of Supervisors in January. If she loses, she will remain on the school board until at least 2026.

De Serpa said one of the challenges has been finding residents in her and Holm’s districts who would be willing to do the job.

“What I’m interested in is stability for this district, support for our administration and our superintendent and keeping kids firmly at the center of all decision-making,” she said. “I’m fine with appointment if we can find excellent candidates.”

Vice President Oscar Soto said that while many speakers were downplaying the price tag of a special election, the amount of money would still have an impact.

“They think that we’re spending the district’s money, it’s actually the taxpayers’ money,” he said. “When they don’t get a bus, they don’t get a meal or a teacher for the year, how do we explain that to them because we decided to spend that money?”

The board voted 5-1 to go with an appointment process. Scow dissented, and Trustee Daniel Dodge Jr. was absent.