INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Former Sebastian City Councilwoman and current charter school board member Dale Simchick has been chosen to fill the vacant School Board seat.
Gov. Rick Scott’s office confirmed the appointment Tuesday afternoon.
Simchick, 55, resides in what is now District 2 in the School District and meets the residency requirements for election to that seat.
“I was thrilled,” Simchick said Tuesday of getting the news directly from Gov. Scott. “I was excited.”
Simchick was personally interviewed by the governor in Orlando a month ago. Simchick said he fit the interview in between regular business with the Florida Port Authorities.
The open School Board seat was vacated by Jeff Pegler, who resigned in late July to take a job as Assistant General Counsel at Shriners Hospital for Children handling procurement and purchasing, which necessitated his relocation across the state.
Pegler’s term was meant to end in 2014, meaning his seat would remain without an elected representative for approximately 16 months from July.
School Board members serve 4-year terms. Three seats will be open in 2014 District 1, District 2 and District 4. District 2 represents the southern half of Sebastian, the Wabasso area and the northern portion of the barrier island.
Simchick said in July she had already spoken with her employer, Sheriff Deryl Loar, and he is supportive – as he was when she served on the Sebastian City Council. She has vacation days available if needed.
“I’m very anxious to get to work,” Simchick said Tuesday. She planned to attend the regular School Board meeting as member of the public. She has paperwork to fill out before she can be officially sworn in, which is expected to happen sometime in December.
Simchick currently serves as a member of the Sebastian Charter Junior High School board. Simchick’s son attends the school and is an eighth grader. She will have to resign from her post on the charter school’s board now that she has been selected to sit on the District’s School Board.
Simchick was appointed over a large field of other applicants, including Sebastian’s now-Interim City Manager Joe Griffin; former School Board candidates Kimberly Keithahn, Ardra Rigby, Althea McKenzie, Harry Hall and Richard Marini; former Schools Superintendent Dr. Harry LaCava; North County Charter School board member Ken Miller; teacher Jorge Lugo; salesmen William Brown and Bradley Ward; and Realtor Laura Zorc, wife of County Commissioner Tim Zorc; supervisor John Featherstone; New York educator Judith Martin; and residents Scarlett Chesser, Charles Searcy, and Ruben Burmudez. Former School District spokeswoman Patty Vasquez applied for the post and later withdrew it from consideration.
