The Redmond School Board appointed Eric Lea, a resident of Redmond, to fill the vacated seat of Bob Perry at their Jan. 25 board meeting.

Lea, a clinical researcher and a co-founder of Southwest Charter School in Portland, will serve the remainder of Perry’s term until June 30 after the board voted unanimously on his appointment. Lea intends to run for and keep the seat when it goes back up for grabs in the May election.

The shortened term was caused by two resignations: First, Shawn Hartfield vacated the seat in September to move to Texas. And second, after his appointment to Hartfield’s seat on Nov. 9, Perry stepped down Dec. 30 for undisclosed reasons.

Lea said his main focus in the shortened term will be to emphasize student engagement.

“When (students) love what they do, they’re more focused, they’re more engaged,” he said. “They’re more participative in their education.”

The biggest issue facing education, he said, is the lost time due to the COVID-19 pandemic and school closures that set students back academically and socially. He said he wants to start a dialogue with teachers and staff and encourage teachers who have creative ideas.

“I would love to plant the seed of creative engagement for the kids that begins to help the kids get caught back up again,” Lea said.

He added that he’s eager to bring a greater diversity of thought to the public education system and encourage more public participation in the school board. It’s important, he said, to have respectful debate and polite discourse even when disagreements arise.

“It really should be a board that serves the community, but also one that the community respects enough to know that there are rules and regulations that the board has to follow,” he said.

Lea was chosen using the same applications and rubric scoring system that was used from when Perry was appointed.

According to RSD Board Secretary Gina Blanchette, Lea, Perry and David Bergman tied for the seat in the November appointment with scores of 3.9 and had to move the scores to the hundredth decimal place to appoint Perry by 0.02 points.

At the Wednesday meeting, the scores were much more clear: Lea received a score of 4.40, beating out Bergman, who received a score of 4.25 from the board.

At the Jan. 25 meeting, the board also watched a student showcase presentation from the Redmond High School’s livestock judging team that qualified for nationals and listened to HMK Company’s end of month report on school renovations from Program Manager Chad Franke.

The board discussed Superintendent Charan Cline’s contract as well, however, board member Alice DeWittie said they will reconvene Jan. 31 to go over specifics of the contract.