Joal Hall Broun was chosen from seven applicants to fill the vacancy on the Board of Education left by Michelle Brownstein, who resigned in December.

While electing the new member in their meeting Thursday night, no board member spoke about any specific candidate.

“We’re normally very verbose,” said board member Andrew Davidson. “We tend to clam up during this process because when we have this, what we called an ’embarrassment of riches’ last time, we have seven highly qualified candidates so it’s hard for us to speak up.”

Davidson said the board did not want to discourage anyone who applied for the position.

The board voted initially to narrow down the field. In the first vote, the top three names, in no specified order, were Broun, Allen Baunsi and Mary Anne Wolf.

In the second vote, composed of the three remaining candidates, Broun received the majority of the votes and was unanimously approved.

Board member Rani Dasi explained how she evaluated candidates.

“What the board in my mind needs is some structural support,” she said. “We lost 31 years of experience in our last three board members who have left the board. So I really thought about making sure that my candidate had elected experience.”

Broun has worked on the Carrboro Board of Alderman and has served on the board for the Orange Water and Sewer Authority.

She did not address the board on Thursday, but spoke at the meeting last week. She said scrutinizing our expectations of students is important for closing the achievement gap.

“Do you expect that child because he does not look or she does not look like someone else, do you expect them to do well? So the expectation is that all students should do well,” Broun said.

She will be sworn in and officially begin her duties at the next meeting on March, 3.

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