Clark County Board of Education member Gordon Parido will act as the new chair of the school district’s legislative body following an organizational meeting Tuesday night.

During the first board meeting of the new term, board members were responsible for electing officers. Board Member Ashley Ritchie nominated Parido, while former Board Chair Scott Hisle, nominated himself.

The board then opened the floor for discussion of the two nominations. Parido declined to discuss his candidacy, but Hisle said he would like to make a case for re-election.

“I think in the last year as chair, I’ve been a fair and considerate chairman,” Hisle said. “I think I’ve acted with a fair and dignifying demeanor. I take my board very seriously. I’ve never missed a board meeting, and as chair, I’ve always been open to adding agenda items, and I would act that same way in the future. I have spent countless hours reviewing the minutes making sure everything was accurate as possible for the permanent record.”

Parido won the vote 4-1; Hisle opposed.

After the vote, Parido said one of his goals as chair is to streamline meetings as much as possible.

“I’m not trying to take a voice away from anybody that is on this board, but I think we can take a more efficient than what we may have in the past,” Parido said. “With doing that, I ask each board member to come to each meeting prepared to vote on every item that we have.”

Parido then opened the floor for nominations for vice-chair of the board. Parido nominated senior board member Ashley Ritchie. Ritchie won the vote 5-0.

Superintendent Paul Christy was chosen by the board to be the board secretary, a position Parido said was traditionally held by the superintendent, and district finance director Aleisha Ellis was made the board treasurer.

The board also called an emergency special meeting to review and evaluate applications submitted for the open position of board attorney. The board expressed the need to hire a board attorney soon and hopes to have the process completed by the end of the month.

Regular board meetings for the year will take place on the third Tuesday of every month beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Central office, 1600, W. Lexington Ave.