The Ocean City Board of Education voted Wednesday (June 24) to appoint Tiffany Prettyman to fill a vacant seat on the board.
Prettyman was sworn in Wednesday and will serve through the end of the calendar year.
The appointment was necessary to fill a vacancy left by the resignation of Ray Clark, who stepped down May 14 before his younger brother, Ryan Clark, was considered for a part-time position as an assistant Ocean City High School swimming coach.
State nepotism guidelines prevent school board members from maintaining seats in districts where direct relatives are employees
Clark was re-elected to his second term in November 2013, and his term expires December 31, 2016.
Prettyman will serve for the remainder of 2015. Candidates will then run in the November 2015 election to fill the final year of Clark’s unexpired term.
__________
Sign up for free Ocean City news updates from OCNJ Daily.
__________
Prettyman served a full three-year term on the school board that ended in 2010. She was appointed to fill another school board vacancy in 2012 — when Antwan McClellan stepped down after being elected to City Council. She then ran unopposed to fill out the remainder of his term.
She did not seek election to another full term in November 2014, and she said on Tuesday that she will not run in the November 2015 election.
She said the board reached out to her when they received no applications to fill the vacant seat. In past candidate searches, board members have said the learning curve is long for new members — Prettyman would be able to bring experience to the position for the six months until newly elected members take office.
Prettyman is a social studies teacher at Mainland Regional High School, parent of two Ocean City schoolchildren and wife of Ocean City Police Capt. Jay Prettyman.
The terms of board members James Bauer, Jacqueline McAlister and Tom Oves expire this year. The November election will fill those three-year seats, the one-year unexpired term of Clark, and a one-year unexpired term of Greg Donahue (currently held by Greg Whelan).
School board positions are volunteer and include no benefits.
