T-R FILE PHOTO Board member Nicolás “Niko” Aguirre speaks during his first applicant interview in 2019, who was ultimately appointed to the board for his first time.

The Marshalltown Community School District Board of Education voted to accept the resignation of a fellow board member.

Board member Nicolás “Niko” Aguirre, JBS Marshalltown human resources director, recently accepted a transfer to the JBS Swift Pork Facility in Louisville, Ky. and will be removed from his seat on the board effective May 7.

While Aguirre did not attend the board meeting Monday night where his resignation was accepted, he expressed bittersweet gratitude in his resignation letter to the board.

“I’ve had an amazing experience and greatly appreciated the opportunity to serve the community in some capacity,” Aguirre said. “I hope the community could sense the intent and heart of the MCSD Board and having our best interest of the masses in mind.”

The board now looks to fill the seat by appointment, but a special election could be held to fill the seat if a valid petition to hold a special election is submitted by 4:30 p.m., May 18 or if the vacancy is not filled within 30 days after the vacancy occurs.

For a petition to be deemed valid, the petition must contain the signatures of at least 100 eligible electors or signatures totalling at least 30 percent of the number of voters in the last regular school election, whichever number is greater.

Those wishing to fill the vacant board seat can submit a letter of interest to the Board Secretary Paulette Newbold at 1002 S. 3rd Ave., Marshalltown, IA 50158 by 4:30 p.m. May 14.

Aguirre served as an appointee to the school board on two separate occasions, first in 2019 to fill the vacancy of former board member Ross Harris and most recently in 2020 to fill the vacancy of former board member Bob Untiedt. The board seat is up for election on Nov. 2 of this year.

In other business…

The board voted unanimously to approve a kindergarten through 12th-grade art curriculum with a cost of $48,212.95. The school district did not previously have a purchased art curriculum, with teachers creating their own lesson plans. The purchase includes the FLEX curriculum suite totalling $32,746 complete with lesson plans aligning to the Iowa fine arts standards, along with $15,466.95 in supplemental resources and equipment. Equipment includes nine digital cameras, 18 informational posters, 21 electronic drawing tablets and more storage and memory for nine district-issued laptops.

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Contact Trevor Babcock at 641-753-6611 or tbabcock@timesrepublican.com.