Du Quoin school board cannot agree on filling the Rice vacancy; Regional superintendent Donna Boros to decide

The Du Quoin Board of Education emerged from an hour-long executive session Thursday night and announced it could not reach agreement on filling the vacancy of the late Charles "Beaver" Rice.

Supt. Dr. Gary Kelly emerged from the meeting and said there wasn't even a vote taken. Two of the five nominees--Pat Ferrari and Jim Rodenbush--attended the meeting. They stood in the school commons outside the media center and talked as deliberations began.

The board had 45 days from Rice's death to nominate and elect someone to fill the vacancy. The deadline is Feb. 2. There is no apparent intention to meet again, so the decision will lie in the hands of Jackson/Perry County Regional Superintendent of Schools Donna Boros. She can pick from the five nominees or identify and select someone else from Township 6-1.

In other business, the board appointed Danielle Woll as assistant volleyball coach, hired Robert Mauser as a cafeteria cook and appointed Sarah Geiger to serve as Du Quoin High School senior class sponsor for the remainder of the school year.