By JEFF JELLISON
Reporter Publisher
On Tuesday evening, the Carmel Clay School Board voted unanimously to appoint Jennifer Nelson-Williams to fill the vacant District 2 seat created by the resignation of long-time board member Pam Knowles.
Prior to the announcement, Board President Layla Spanenberg thanked the Carmel community for its engagement and willingness to serve the students, staff and families of Carmel.
Jennifer Nelson-Williams was selected by unanimous decision to fill a vacant Carmel Clay School Board seat. (Photo provided)
“Several individuals submitted applications and we were very impressed with all of the very qualified candidates that applied,” Spanenberg said. “I found this process to be extremely difficult. It was easier to pick a superintendent. It is a very difficult position to be in for us to deliberate in public. I thought everyone did a phenomenal job during the board interviews.”
The process to fill the vacant seat on the school board took place without an audience due to the board’s recent decision to not allow public attendance at board meetings.
The decision to make the meeting a livestream-only event was announced last week after board members said they were not able to get work done because of the disruptive behavior from the community.
Nelson-Williams has been a Carmel resident for 18 years, owns a funeral home located in Carmel, and has two children who attended Carmel Clay Schools.
“I’ve spent years working in the classroom, outside the classroom helping my kids,” Nelson-Williams said. “In addition to my business successes, I am familiar with budgets, management, and profit and loss. I feel I am uniquely qualified to be part of the board.”
A rootless cosmopolitan feminist? I guess we know why they decided not to let the parents of children in the school system attend this meeting. Spanenberg wanted her in. I guess we’ve heard all we need to. Thank goodness they kept the parents out of this decision.
I think they wanted McNally more, but I was lucky to find evidence of her intent to fight against parents concerned about CRT/SEL and transparency and I publicized it widely as well as sending it to the Board. So they went with plan B who probably doesn’t give much better of an outlook. And it’s still a case of the Board telling the public: We don’t care how much of the community is conservative, we WILL keep this board liberal and ‘progressive.’