Trustees in the Sacramento City Unified School District appointed Jay Hansen to the school board Thursday night at Serna Center.
Hansen will complete the final two years of board member Ellyn Bell's term as the representative of Area 1, which represents Land Park, downtown, midtown and Curtis Park.
Bell, the most senior trustee on the board, is resigning in order to move out of the area for her job.
After a 45-minute discussion, the six candidates - Gwynnae Byrd, Hansen, Bina Lefkovitz, Anna Molander, David Ross and Kathryn Tobias - were narrowed down to three - Hansen, Molander and Ross.
Hansen was appointed in a 5-1 vote, in which newly elected board member Christina Pritchett dissented.
Hansen is the chief strategy officer for the California Medical Association. He was formerly the legislative and political director for the State Building and Construction Trades Council. He helped found the Sacramento Stonewall Club.
"I know how valuable it is to have a great school district," Hansen said after he was sworn into office by Bell.
Hansen said it was nerve-racking listening to the board debate over the appointment at Thursday's meeting.
"There are remarkable candidates that stepped forward," Hansen said.
Had the board decided against making an appointment Thursday, the Sacramento County Office of Education would have ordered a special election at the school district's expense, as required by state Education Code. The county Elections Department has estimated a special election would have cost between $137,000 and $274,000.
Loretta Kalb started her reporting career at The Sacramento Union, moved to KOVR-13 as a television reporter, editor and producer, headed to The Associated Press in San Francisco and eventually returned to Sacramento and joined The Sacramento Bee. Throughout her career, she has covered the state Legislature, courts, local government and, now, education. She is a Chico native and an Elk Grove resident.
Diana Lambert began her journalism career as a proofreader at the Lodi News-Sentinel. She is now a senior writer at The Sacramento Bee covering K-12 education and California State University, Sacramento. Previously she was The Bee’s Elk Grove bureau chief. Lambert was raised in a military family and lived at bases around the globe. She attended four high schools, graduating from Tokay High in Lodi and then Sacramento State University. She lives in Elk Grove.
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