After months of contentious debate, the vacant seat on the District 202 Board of Education has been filled, Board President Pat Savage-Williams announced Tuesday.

Evanston Township High School’s new board member, Anne Sills, was selected from a pool of 14 applicants to fill the empty seventh slot after Bill Geiger announced his resignation May 27.

Sills was one of five candidates who ran for three open spots in April’s board election, ultimately losing a seat by 235 votes. She will serve on the board until spring of 2017, the initial end date for Geiger’s term, when she has the option to run for one more four-year term.

The District 202 board had until July 10 to select a new candidate, at which point the decision would have been turned over to Regional Superintendent Bruce Brown. Board members remained divided on the issue up until a special meeting July 1, when the board determined after an hour and a half of discussion that it could not agree upon a replacement for Geiger, tasking Brown with the choice nine days ahead before it would default to him.

Savage-Williams said she was grateful to all the applicants who sought to fill the board vacancy.

“We are extremely fortunate to have so many community members with such strong interests and depth of talents who are willing to serve our district in this capacity,” she said in a news release.

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