2-4-10 | Committee approves new state board of ed member | Salt Lake Tribune

Committee approves new state board of ed member

by Lisa Schencker | Salt Lake Tribune | Updated: 02/04/2010 08:09:02 PM MST

A Utah State University educator will likely become the newest State Board of Education member.

The Senate Education Confirmation Committee approved the appointment of Tami Wight Pyfer on Thursday afternoon to District 1 of the state board. Pyfer replaces Shelly Locke, who resigned from her seat in December to focus more on advocating for the preservation of families and mothers' rights. Locke was about a year into her 4-year term.

Pyfer, who's now a clinical instructor in the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation at USU, said a friend on the Logan City School District board suggested she apply for the seat. She said she's eager to tackle challenges facing education and has no specific agenda.

"It makes it kind of an exciting time to feel like you can contribute," Pyfer said.

Pyfer also served in past years as a director of the Logan Schools Foundation, as a member of the foundation's board of directors and as a Logan City Council member for two terms. She has five children, all of whom either go to or graduated from Logan High School. She also home schooled one of her children for a short time and sent him to a private school before high school. She now serves on the Logan High School Community Council but said she will resign from that position so as not to have any conflicts of interest.

Pyfer was chosen by the governor to go before the committee Friday from a group of eight applicants for the position.

Applications for the position were accepted for about a month, and notices about the vacancy were sent to a number of education groups and other organizations.

Committee member Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, suggested that in the future, notices about school board vacancies also be sent to the various business groups that are typically represented on the committee that helps choose board candidates when board members' terms expire.

Now, the full Senate must confirm Pyfer as the new board member.

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