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The last time a school board member in Forest Lake resigned midterm was in February 2003 when Rebecca Otto stepped down after being elected to the Minnesota House. The board accepted her resignation on March 3, 2003, and then placed an ad in the Forest Lake Times, for three consecutive weeks, asking for résumés from interested applicants. They held a special meeting on April 21, 2003, and interviewed three candidates. Rob Raphael was appointed to fill the remainder of Otto’s term. He took office on May 5, 2003. The Forest Lake Area School Board plans to follow a different process this time around. School board member Luke Hagglund, whose term expires on Jan. 4, 2027, has announced plans to resign at 11:59 p.m. Thursday — right after this week’s school board meeting. Hagglund said Tuesday that he is resigning due to “personal reasons.” By law, Hagglund’s seat must be filled by appointment and then put up for a vote at the next school board election. According to the agenda for Thursday’s board meeting, the board plans to vote on a resolution appointing Forest Lake resident Scot Doboszenski to fill the remainder of Hagglund’s term. Hagglund said he plans to vote on Doboszenski’s appointment. “I am a voting member (of the board) up until the time of my resignation,” he said. The Forest Lake school board has drawn attention because of its recent debates over whether to remove a dress code ban on swastikas, the KKK and the Confederate flag. The board also has urged the state education department and the state governing body for high school athletics to comply with a Trump administration demand to bar transgender athletes from girls sports. Timing question An attorney for Education Minnesota and the Forest Lake Education Association is questioning whether Hagglund can legally vote for his own replacement. State law says that “any vacancy must be filled by board appointment at a regular or special meeting.” “However, before member Hagglund’s resignation becomes effective, the board will vote on an appointment to fill his vacancy that does not yet exist,” attorney Jonathan Reiner wrote in a letter to School Board Chairman Curt Rebelein on Wednesday. “Further, Hagglund himself could vote on the appointment to fill his vacancy. Voting on an appointment that does not exist and allowing Hagglund to vote on his successor violates the law. … Only remaining members of the board may vote to fill the vacancy.” If the board “violates the law,” Reiner wrote, the Forest Lake Education Association has authorized Education Minnesota to file a writ of mandamus in Washington County District Court “to order the board to comply with the relevant law and to pursue any other available legal remedies.” Claire Luger, a member of the Forest Lake Joint Coalition, a group founded to inform residents about policies at the school board level, said state statute is clear. “A vacancy has to exist in order for it to be filled,” she said. “Given that Luke Hagglund’s vacancy won’t be effective until 11:59 on Thursday, there is no vacancy to fill, right? … The statute is pretty clear that the vacancy has to be a thing first.” Luger said the addition of the agenda item — which was made public when it was published at 3 p.m. Monday — is “another example of this board’s lack of transparency and unwillingness to play by the rules.” The Minnesota School Boards Association has a list of steps listed on its website as to the process to follow when there is a vacancy on a school board, Luger said. It includes a sample application form and sample questions to ask potential applicants. “We pay a lot of money to the (MSBA) for their legal advice,” Luger said. “They have a process that is reflective of the statutes that we’ve got in Minnesota. We just want them to follow the rules.” The last-minute agenda item means no one has had time to consider applying and the public hasn’t had time to learn about Doboszenski, Luger said. “There’s kind of a whiplash effect happening right now where it’s like, ‘Wait, can they do that? Nope. No they can’t. No, wait, what’s going on and why? And who is this guy?’” Retired colonel, businessman Doboszenski’s appointment “shall be effective 30 days after the adoption of this resolution (Nov. 22, 2025) unless a valid petition to reject the appointee is timely filed and verified with the school district clerk,” the resolution states. Rebelein said Tuesday that he did not expect Doboszenski’s appointment to be controversial. “He’s not a polarizing individual,” he said. Doboszenski, a retired U.S. Army colonel, works as a licensed general contractor. “He’s been working with the schools quite a bit, and he and I have talked a lot about him possibly running for school board,” Rebelein said. “It’s a position he’s been interested in for three or four years, something he’s been looking at really closely. He’s worked a lot one-on-one with independent students, helping them finish high school.” Doboszenski emailed a release to the Pioneer Press on Wednesday morning announcing his intention to seek appointment to the school board. “Doboszenski is a local business owner and retired Army colonel,” the release states. “He brings a wealth of experience in leadership, strategic planning and program management. He holds degrees in psychology, information management and national security and resource strategy.” Said Doboszenski: “I believe in fostering collaboration between educators, families and the community so we can create a safe and nurturing environment where every student can thrive. I look forward to contributing my skills and vision to the board so we can accomplish our shared goals of engaging students and preparing them for the next chapter of life whether that be trades, college, military or immediate employment.” More time School board member Gail Theisen said she plans to ask Rebelein to switch the agenda item to the school board’s next main meeting, which is Nov. 6. “That is the most-watched meeting,” she said. “School Board member Luke Hagglund’s replacement on the board could attend, be interviewed and the process would be more transparent to us and the public. Sharing texts and emails is not transparent, we need a better process.” Theisen said she had talked with Doboszenski and told him that being appointed on Thursday would not be a favorable way to start his time on the board. “Our community is watching everything that happens around the board table,” she said. “The board chair knows that this is not a good way to operate. He knows he should have transparency with our community and to not throw out surprises. It isn’t a good way to run our board actions.” Rebelein said he had Superintendent Steve Massey check with the MSBA for their recommendations regarding a board member’s resignation. Among the options: the board can select somebody and appoint them, or the board can go through an application process, he said. “But the application process can be pretty long,” Rebelein said. “It can be arduous. You can end up without somebody in that position for several months. The way that it read, at least to me, was that we were better off having a short selection pool going through that list and then making a proposal to the board.” If the board cannot come to a consensus on Thursday night, Rebelein said it could vote to go through a full application process. “But, you know, it could be February or March before we have that position filled,” he said. “So it felt more appropriate just to go with (Doboszenski).”
