LISBON — The School Committee voted 4-0 Monday to declare a vacancy and announced plans to appoint someone to fill the fifth seat this month.

The Town Office and Superintendent Richard Green are accepting letters from those interested in the position. The new member will serve one year.

Ross Cunningham was elected to the three-year seat but resigned earlier this year after being hired as the director of economic and community development. Kathi Yergin was appointed to the seat until the Nov. 8 election.

Voters would normally have made the decision in November, but ballots incorrectly listed three, three-year seats instead of two, three-year terms and a one-year term. The November election went accordingly to the two candidates with the most votes, newcomer Laura Craig and incumbent Kelli Rogers, each for three years.

The other members are Kim Labbe-Poisson and Margaret Galligan-Schmoll.

Green said a special meeting is necessary to give people enough time to get their letters in and the committee enough time to interview and make a decision before the new year. That will also give the appointed member enough time to complete the required orientation.

The committee will hold interviews in an open forum with the same questions for each candidate, Green said. When the one-year term ends next year, the appointed member can run for election.

In other news, student and staff absenteeism due to illness is threatening stricter measures to keep Lisbon schools open. Green said numbers for some schools hover around 15% and is nearly 22% for Lisbon Community School. If staff illnesses continue to go up or remain the same, the department may need to limit approvals for conferences, cocurricular activities and even special unpaid leave requests.

“If we did do a school closure . . . that would be the ultimate challenge. If we shut down, it would be for multiple days,” Green said.

And those days, like snow days, would have to be made up at the end of the year.

The committee elected Galligan-Schmoll as chairperson, Labbe-Poisson as vice chairperson and Rogers to the Finance Committee.

Green also said Lisbon Education Association negotiations are ongoing, the district’s audit has been extended to Feb. 28 and there is $164,000 left in the allotment of the American Rescue Plan’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, which is built into the budget.

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