The Keith Sutton era officially starts today.

Sutton, legislative affairs program manager for the N.C. Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, will be sworn in at 3 p.m. as the new school board member for District 4. Sutton was chosen two weeks ago by the other board members to fill Rosa Gill's vacant seat.

BTW, in the final 5-2 vote, Sutton was backed by Beverley Clark, Patti Head, Anne McLaurin, Lori Millberg and Horace Tart. Retired educator Lillian Lee was backed by Eleanor Goettee and Ron Margiota.

I doubt it's going to be a surprise to anyone that Venita Peyton was not among the favorites on Wednesday to fill Rosa Gill's seat on the school board.

As noted in today's article by Ray Martin, Keith Sutton was the board's choice. He was the clear favorite in all three written ballots.

On the first ballot, board members were asked to pick four people on a weighted system with four points for the top choice, three points for the second choice and so on.

Barring any holdups, the school board should decide this week who will take Rosa Gill's vacant seat.

The plan is to meet from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday to interview all nine people who want to fill the District 4 opening caused by Gill's appointment to the state House. The board is slated to meet from 9 a.m. to noon on Thursday to make a final selection.

The new board member would be sworn in on Aug. 18 and finish out Gill's term, which expires November 2011.

(The applications for all nine candidates are listed in this post.)

Lynette Aytch, a director in the state's Smart Start program, became the fourth person to apply for the vacant seat on the school board.

In the application submitted today, Aytch said her four policy priorities would be high quality preschool programs, specialized services for students with disabilities and special learning needs, classroom diversity and inclusion and community and families partnerships.

"The public school system has a social and educational responsibility to advance policy that promotes and sustains classroom diversity and inclusion," Aytch said in her application.

A third former educator, Samuel Greene, wants to fill the vacancy on the school board for the District 4 seat in Southeast Raleigh.

Greene, who spent 33 years as an educator and was a principal at West Millbrook Middle School in North Raleigh, submitted his application today. In addition to his professional experience, he cites his lengthy history of community service.

"As a Wake County Public School board member, I would exhibit a strong commitment to working with other board members towards the common goal of providing the best possible education for the children in our district," Greene writes in his application. "My entire professional career has been in the area of working with children, parents and the community."

Retired educator Lillian Lee has got some pretty prominent backing in her bid to fill the vacancy on the school board.

Lee, who submitted her application Monday, included reference letters from former Superintendent Bob Bridges and former principal Johnny Farmer. This could give Lee's application some weight as the board weighs who will fill Rosa Gill's District 4 seat in Southeast Raleigh.

"Mrs. Lee appears to be a clear thinker and is confident in her abilities," Bridges wrote in his reference letter. "I believe that the current state of affairs in her life will permit the commitment of time and energy required to serve on the school board."

UPDATED TO INCLUDE LEE'S APPLICATION, WITH REFERENCE LETTERS, AT END OF POST

The response has been really overwhelming so far to replace Rosa Gill on the school board.

As of Thursday afternoon, school administrators said they hadn't received a single application for the District 4 Southeast Raleigh vacancy on the school board. The deadline is noon on July 20th so there's still time.

The last time there was a vacancy, 10 people applied in 2001 for the opening in District 8 in southwest Wake. Applicants included a former Wake school board member, the president and president-elect of the Wake County PTA Council and the chairman of the Wake County Planning Board.

People aren't exactly rushing to fill the vacancy on the school board.

School officials say they hadn't received any applications as of Monday afternoon. You've got until noon on July 20th to get your application into the hands of the school district.

There are people who've expressed interest in filling the District 4 seat in Southeast Raleigh that was vacated when Rosa Gill left to join the General Assembly.

The game of guessing who wants to replace Rosa Gill on the school board is well underway.

Board members say they've been contacted by people interested in filling the soon-to-be vacant slot. As noted in a previous post, the board agreed Tuesday on the procedures that will be used to appoint a successor.

Two people whom Gill had indicated are interested in the job — PTA volunteer Jonica Rowland and retired principal Alice Garrett — were at Tuesday's board meeting. Garrett was there in her role as education chairwoman of the Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association to present Gill a silver bowl.

Some folks have already indicated interest in filling Rosa Gill's seat on the school board.

Gill said at least four people have talked with her about the position. She said they'd all bring unique qualities to the board.

Gill said the potential candidates include Lillian Lee, the retired principal of Rolesville Elementary School; Alice Garrett, a retired administrator and former principal of Carroll Middle School; Jonica Rowland, an active PTA volunteer; and the Rev. Johnny Darden, who mentors at-risk students.