The Academy District 20 Board of Education has selected three candidates to replace its outgoing member.

Kelli Hawkins, Jason Knese and Douglas Huttenlocker were named as the majority-preferred candidates by board members during a special meeting Monday. The three were selected out of nine candidates to finish out Amy Shandy’s term, who announced her resignation from the board Aug. 7.

Military veterans, former teachers and board members were among the applicants.

Each finalist will be interviewed by the board at a special meeting Sept. 2 and the selected appointee will be sworn in Sept. 8. All are parents to students attending D-20 schools.

Hawkins currently serves on the Board of Directors for The Classical Academy, a D-20 K-12 charter school, listing academic excellence, parent partnership and accountable governance as the top three priorities in her application.

One board policy Hawkins said she would review is the district’s policy on library materials, wanting to better understand it and its implementation.

“As a parent and experienced Board member, I believe it is important to balance high-quality, age-appropriate materials with transparency and meaningful parental involvement,” her application read. “I would welcome the opportunity to learn more about ASd20’s current practice and determine whether the existing policy appropriately reflects those priorities.”

Knese is an Army veteran of more than 20 years with academic excellence, supporting teachers and board accountability as his three priorities if he were to be selected.

He said he’d be interested in refining the board policy governance framework to better define the roles of the board and superintendent in district operations.

“To be clear my goal would not be to expand Board involvement into everyday administrative decisions,” he wrote.

“Rather, I would want to ensure that responsibility, authority and accountability are clearly aligned so that the community understands who is responsible for major decisions and the Board has sufficient information to fulfill its governance responsibilities.”

A retired military officer with the Air Force, Huttenlocker listed student development, culture and community accountability as his three priorities as a board member.

He indicated that he has “no immediate policy concerns” in the district and that his focus is on serving.

“And as a Personnel Officer (HR), I have extensive experience interpreting and executing governing directives and legislative requirements,” he said in his application. “I look forward to bringing these skills to the D20 team.”

Whoever is selected will serve out the remainder of Shandy’s term, which goes through November 2027.