Boise High School senior Shiva Rajbhandari was sworn in as the newest member of the Boise School District Board of Trustees at a standard meeting Monday night.
He was joined by incumbents Dave Wagers, Beth Oppenheimer, Andy Hawes and Elizabeth Langley, who all held onto their seats in last week’s elections. Rajbhandari unseated the fifth incumbent Steve Schmidt by over 2000 votes.
The senior is the first student to win a seat on the seven-member board.
At Monday’s meeting, Rajbhandari commended the trustees for their work, and expressed appreciation for the Boise district.
He added that he hopes his win sets a precedent for future students to occupy a seat on the board.
“We’re the boots on the ground in the classroom,” the senior said in closing. “We have the largest stake in our education. That’s a very important voice that sometimes is missing.”
Rajbhandari is the only new face among the trustees:
- Wagers will serve another six-year term after skating through his race last week. He has served on the board since 2015, and was appointed board president in 2020. The board unanimously voted to reinstate Wagers as president.
- Oppenheimer will also serve another six-year term. She was the top vote-getter in her race, which she shared with Wagers, who received the second-highest number of votes. Oppenheimer was first elected in 2016.
- Langley won her race by over 8,000 votes, instating her for another two-year term. She was first appointed in 2020.
- Hawes was appointed in 2021, and is set to remain on the board for another four years after winning by over 10,000 votes last week.
- The two remaining board members, Maria Greeley and Nancy Gregory, were not up for reelection last week. Greeley was unanimously voted to remain vice president of the board on Monday, and the two will carry out their current terms.
Trustees also unanimously reappointed Sharon Mast as board clerk, with a flurry of gratitude for her work during the election.
