District 49 school board seat vacant after member deemed ineligible for reelection
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - A District 49 school board seat is now vacant after board member Ivy Liu was disqualified from running for reelection this November.
To run for the District 49 school board, a candidate must meet two criteria — they must live in the area they're representing and turn in a petition packet with fifty signatures from registered voters living in that area.
District 49 said Ivy Liu doesn't check those boxes.
The district recently redrew lines for their school board seats, and those new lines resulted in Ivy Liu living outside the required area.
Liu said she moved to a new place in the new area so she could continue her work on the board, but she was still forced to give up her school board seat.
D49 said they're still determining whether she moved to the property in the correct timeline. However, on top of the redistricting issue, Liu did not turn in 50 valid signatures which kept her from running for reelection.
"I did everything according to law," said Ivy Liu. "And of course, because they have been trying to get rid of me for two years, they are going to run through it with a microscope and a fine toothcomb to find things wrong with it."
In response to Liu's belief that her removal was caused by those motives, the district said this decision was made based on facts.
"Maps and math don't have feelings, and so the map doesn't give her an opportunity to represent," said District 49 Superintendent Peter Hilts. "And the math, she didn't reach the threshold of 50 signatures also doesn't give her an opportunity to represent."
Liu said the school board and district have been against her for a long time, and she believes this is another way to keep her silent.
Friday, the D49 school board held a virtual meeting to verify that Liu's position was vacant. At the meeting, they were also slated to decide whether to fill that vacancy with a temporary member until the board seat is officially filled in November.
