THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 23, 1995 TAG: 9503230545
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 37 lines
Circuit judges Wednesday named two people to fill seats on the School Board.
Karen O. O'Brien, 48, a real estate agent with two children in city schools, will fill the Lynnhaven Borough seat vacated by former Chairman James R. Darden, who stepped down from the board in January because of family medical problems. O'Brien is the wife of former state legislator William R. ``Buster'' O'Brien.
Donald F. Bennis, 43, an attorney, will take over the at-large spot vacated last month when a circuit judge ruled to uphold a jury's conviction of board member Charles W. Vincent on misdemeanor ethics charges and ordered Vincent to relinquish his seat.
Under state law, circuit judges appoint replacements when elected school board seats become vacant. Vincent and Darden were elected to the board last May.
O'Brien and Bennis will fill the seats until May 1996, when a special election will be held to find two people to finish the terms, which end in June 1998.
Bennis' appointment came despite a motion filed last week by Vincent's attorney, Andrew M. Sacks, calling for the judges to postpone filling the seat until Vincent's appeals were exhausted. Sacks is filing an appeal of Vincent's conviction with the state Court of Appeals in Richmond.
O'Brien and Bennis will begin their duties immediately.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD by CNB