Boise School District trustee to resign from board. It’s the third departure in a year
A Boise School Board trustee is resigning from her position, saying she no longer has enough time to devote to the role.
Alicia Estey, who has served on the board for about three years, submitted her resignation letter on Thursday. She was elected in 2018.
“The demands on my time professionally have increased substantially since I was elected,” she wrote in her resignation letter to Superintendent Coby Dennis and the other trustees.
“Despite my best efforts, I am unable to devote the time necessary to meaningfully participate in carrying out the responsibilities of a trustee, particularly in light of the many challenges facing public schools.”
Estey serves as the vice president for university affairs and chief of staff at Boise State University. She has been extensively involved in the university’s COVID-19 response.
She said in the resignation letter she was grateful to have been able to serve the Boise School District.
The school board is scheduled to accept the trustee’s resignation at its board meeting Monday and to declare a vacancy, according to the agenda.
Under the district’s policies, the board will have to appoint a successor within 90 days of declaring the vacancy.
The board will accept nominations, take applications from candidates and decide on a selection process to choose the next trustee. Trustees will then vote on the appointment.
This is the third departure from the seven-member board of trustees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier this year, former Trustee Dennis Doan resigned from the board after accepting a job in Washington.
Last fall, another Boise trustee, Troy Rohn, resigned, saying board members had been put in an “an untenable position to make decisions that affect the physical and mental well-being of our staff and students,” according to Idaho EdNews. Rohn wrote at the time the federal and state governments had “shirked their responsibilities in leaving these decisions to local school boards who have no expertise in these medical matters.”
A number of trustees have also resigned over the past year from the West Ada School Board as they faced debates over COVID-19 protocols in schools.
