RICHMOND – The seven-member Richmond Board of Education is down to four members, all men.

Vice President Penny Vandiver and member Keri Nettles resigned from their board seats.

In addition, former board member Monica Shane withdrew her name from consideration for the seat from which Dr. Jason Morrill resigned before the April election. The timing of the resignation meant the board, not voters, would pick his replacement.

Talk within the community is that Vandiver and Nettles quit because the male board members would not return Shane to the board. Whether the talk is true could not be confirmed independently Saturday.

Vandiver and Shane did not return calls. Nettles could not be reached for comment. 

Board President John Dana said he could not define the reasons for Vandiver and Nettles resignations. 

“I sure appreciate and respect what they’ve contributed to the board,” he said Saturday. “It’s very unfortunate that they decided to step down, but I don’t think it would be fair to assume what reasons those were.”

Dana said Shane withdrew her name from consideration before the board voted.

“In the absence of facts, there are a lot of rumors and it’s hard to combat that,” he said. “But I do know Monica had withdrawn from that before it came to a vote.”

Reached Saturday, district Superintendent Greg Darling said the board would seek to replace Vandiver and Nettles.

“We’re going to do the same process we did before, which was recommended by the school board association,” he said. “We’ll open it up for two weeks and then anybody interested can apply. Then we just have an interview process and then (the board) will vote.”

This newspaper submitted a Missouri Open Records request for the Vandiver and Nettles resignation letters.

Dana said overall the district has done well to overcome adversity.

“There’s sure a lot of good things going on right now with our school district,” he said, including overcoming the hurdles thrown up by COVID-19. “There have been so many teachers and administrators that have stepped up and worked through this. ... There are a lot of positives.”