After no one turned in papers to run for the District 1 Board of Education seat in South Portland, Dick Matthews, chairman of the board, began knocking on doors seeking someone willing to run as a write-in.

He found Jennifer Kirk, who was born and raised in South Portland and who is a member of the Ferry Village Conservation Commission and works for the Boys & Girls Club of Southern Maine. She and her husband have two sons, one of whom attends a city school.

“This is about the kids, (and) it’s important to me that they have a voice,” Kirk said when asked why she agreed to put her name forward as a write-in. Her goals, she said, include making herself as accessible as possible to parents.

Kirk added that with the school board facing a variety of important issues, like how to configure the city’s middle schools, it’s important to go into the position with no agenda.

Matthews, who was originally elected to the board as a write-in candidate himself nearly 10 years ago, said he wasn’t trying to find a candidate with a specific point of view, just one willing to serve.

Richard Carter, the current school board representative from District 1, is giving up his seat to run as an at-large candidate for the City Council.

For the District 2 seat, which is being vacated by Sara Goldberg, only one candidate turned in papers, Otis Thompson of Hillside Avenue.

Thompson is a retired elementary school educator and administrator who worked primarily in Portland during his career. He served two terms on the Portland Board of Education in the late 1990s and early 2000s and is a former president of the Maine Teachers Association.

– Alex Acquisto, Sun Media Wire

Jennifer Kirk

Otis Thompson