GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland School Board plans to appoint a new member in October, after Christine Hayes resigned from the board on Aug. 1. Hayes told The Enterprise she resigned due to additional personal and professional responsibilities. 

Hayes, a lawyer for Albany Medical Center, said this week that she was grateful for the experience and honored to have served the community for the last seven years. “I have no doubt that there will be many qualified candidates to fill the position,” she added. 

Hayes, a board member since 2012, had served as board vice president in 2015 and as president from 2016 until this year. 

She did not run for re-election to the presidency in May, although she remained on the board. 

Looking back, she said, “The board has accomplished a lot over the last few years. I’m proud that the district is investigating moving toward later school start times. I’m also proud that school safety continues to be a top priority.” 

In May, Seema Rivera, who had been vice president since last year, became president, and Timothy Horan, who was first elected to the board a year ago, became vice president. 

New York State law allows school boards to fill vacant positions by appointment until the next regular election, which will be in May 2020. 

The appointment will last until the new board is seated, after the May election, at the annual reorganizational meeting in July. If the successful candidate wants to remain on the board, he or she would need to file a petition to run in the May 29 school board election when the usual three seats will be open as well.

The top three vote-getters would win three-year terms, and the candidate who comes in fourth in the election would fill out the remaining time in Hayes’s term, until 2021.

The board has nine members and the posts are unpaid.

A candidates for the school board must be at least 18 years old, a United States citizen, and a resident of the school district for at least a year prior to the appointment.

Anyone wishing to apply should submit a letter of interest and résumé for review, together with any other documents that may be helpful in the selection process, no later than Sept 13.

 Letters and documents should be mailed to: District Clerk Linda Livingston, Guilderland Central School District, Post Office Box 18, 8 School Road, Guilderland Center, NY 12085. 

Candidates may also submit materials by email, to .

 All applicants will be interviewed. The interview process will take place on Oct. 2, beginning at 6 p.m. as part of a special meeting of the board of education. 

This meeting — with location to be determined — will be open to the public. 

The successful candidate is expected to be appointed to the board at the Oct. 15 meeting.

For more information on the vacancy, call Livingston at 518-456-6200, ext. 3125.