Photo: Steve Thurston
Newly-appointed interim school board member Todd McCracken is congratulated by board member Emma Violand-Sanchez.
Todd McCracken, a member of various school capacity advisory boards since his time on the Elementary Crowding and Capacity Commission in 2007, was named the interim Arlington Public Schools board member to fill the space vacated when Libby Garvey took her seat on the county board last month.
The three board members on hand last night, Abby Raphael, Sally Baird and Emma Violand-Sanchez (James Lander was absent) appointed him to the position after considering a pool of applicants. His term begins as soon as he can be sworn in either on Friday or Saturday and ends on the last day of the calendar year.
It’s a job he said he could do for the next eight months, but does not think he would want it for longer than that.
He comes to the board at a time when his background in capacity will be most needed, board members said.
McCracken, “has been a strong advocate for transparency" who “brings us a deep understanding" of issues said board member Sally Baird.
In 2007 he worked on the capacity issues that faced, and still face, APS. After the ECCC was disbanded, he became the sub-committee chair of the "Projects and Capacity Subcommittee" of Facilities Advisory Council, a subcommittee primarily concerned with capacity issues in the schools.
He is the CEO of the National Small Business Association. The NSBA works with elected and administration officials to support small business growth and development, their website says.
Emma Violand Sanchez and Noah Simon are campaigning for the two seats on the board that are up for election this year. Violand-Sanchez is the incumbent running for her own seat. Simon hopes to capture the seat that McCracken is filling this year. Since Larry Fishthaler was also running, but recently stepped out of the race, and other parties have not yet fielded candidates for the positions, Democrats Violand Sanchez and Simon are pretty much guaranteed wins.
