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DOWAGIAC — Dowagiac Union School’s vacant board of education seat will soon be filled.

The district announced on its Facebook page the names of the 12 candidates that will be interviewed by the board of education at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Dowagiac Middle School.

The candidates are:

• Nicholas Bogen

• Jody Crandall

• Justin Doyle

• Priscilla Gatties

• Tracey Hatcher

• Steven Mammel

• Kathleen McKee

• Samuel Morseau

• Jonathan Phillips

• Kim Robison

• Craig Schmidt

• William Stockwell

The seat formerly belonged to Phyllis Sarabyn, who resigned from her position as board trustee due to personal reasons

The interviews will be outdoors at the south end of the building, weather permitting. In the event of inclement weather, the interviews will be hosted inside and the district will provide access for the community to attend virtually with a Zoom link that will be posted on the district’s Facebook page.

The school board announced during its Monday board meeting that it will ask each member seven to 10 questions. Considering the number of candidates and the time it would take to conduct a thorough interview for each, Whan told both the board and those in attendance to expect the interview meeting to take three hours or more to complete. Whan will be the timekeeper for the interviews.

The deliberations will consist of three rounds, with the top six candidates moving on to the second round and the top two moving onto the final round.

The new board member would be appointed that night, after deliberations are over.