CATAWISSA - The president of the Southern Columbia Area School Board said the district can't keep operating with one member shy of a nine-member board.
"We need to be able to have a full board somehow," President Mike Yeager said Monday night during the regular school board. "It's been available for three years. No one has attempted to take it."
While the board has been functioning with eight board members since January 2012, ever since Region II Director Ronald Brobst, of Catawissa, resigned due to work constraints in January after he won the 2011 general election, Yeager said a seat was vacant for two years before that.
Thomas Reich was approved last week to fill a vacant Region I position.
For 2013's election, the board members successfully petitioned the Columbia County courts to change the alignment of how many representatives are allowed to serve from each of the three districts, and they are considering another change.
The new format allows two members to be elected from each region, and three members to be elected from any part of the region.
Yeager suggested petitioning the courts to allow more seats to be at large, but Directors Charlene Cove and Charlie Porter said the board took it far enough with the last change.
"It could overload one region," Cove said.
Region I consists of Ralpho Township, Region II consists of Catawissa and Catawissa Township and Region III consists of Cleveland, Franklin, Locust and Roaring Creek townships.
The board members did not make a decision Monday night.
The board asks that anyone wanting to serve on the board to contact the district office at 570-356-3509.
In other business, the board confirmed that Reich's term will expire November 2015 instead of 2016.