By Kathleen Acuff

The vacancy on the Foothill-De Anza Community College District board of directors left by the death of Andrea Leiderman will be filled by appointment the day after the Nov. 8 statewide special election. The appointed director will serve the remainder of the term, which expires November 2007.

FHDA directors have scheduled a special meeting for 9 a.m. Nov. 9 to vote to fill the empty seat rather than hold a special election that, according to the Office of Voter Registration, would cost the district $1.85 million. Leiderman’s successor cannot be elected Nov. 8 with candidates for the board’s two expiring terms, because the seat became vacant after the district filed for the statewide election.

A second meeting has been scheduled for Nov. 10 in case directors do not reach a decision in the first meeting. Nov. 10 is also the date directors must report their choice to Superintendent Colleen Wilcox of the Santa Clara County Office of Education. Voters will then have 30 days in which to petition for a special election to fill the vacancy with a candidate of their choice. However they are chosen, new directors will be sworn in Dec. 5.

Directors were scheduled to announce the vacancy at Monday’s regular meeting, at which point the application period would begin. The deadline for applications is 5 p.m. Oct. 21.

Registered voters living in the district service area, which includes Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, west San Jose, portions of Saratoga, and Sunnyvale, are eligible to apply for the position. They must submit a statement of qualifications and a two-page statement explaining how they would carry out the board’s fiduciary responsibility, describing what they hope to accomplish on the board and specifying the value or qualities that set them apart from other candidates.

Chancellor Martha Kanter and Board President Sandy Hay are scheduled to conduct a voluntary orientation session for prospective candidates at 2 p.m. Oct. 14 in the district board room on the Foothill College campus, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills.

For more information, contact the chancellor’s office at 949-6100 or oberghjon@fhda.edu.