One-time mayoral candidate James Ragland has been selected to fill a vacant seat on the Columbus Board of Education.
Ragland ran for Columbus mayor in 2015, and was in the running for a seat on city council last December.
Recently Ragland has been vocal with a group called Protect Art 4 Columbus, a coalition of business and civic leaders that that supports an arts and entertainment ticket tax to raise money for arts groups in Columbus, including repairs on the the publicly-owned Nationwide Arena.
Ragland was one of 55 candidates who applied for the seat left open when board member Dominic Paretti stepped down over allegations of sexual harassment at his job as an aide at the Statehouse. Former board member Bryan Steward temporarily held the spot while board members waded through applications, but he stepped down nearly three weeks ago.
The board unanimously approved Ragland over two other finalists; Jo Ellen Cline, an attorney and legal analyst for Columbus City Council, and Jennifer Adair, an attorney with the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, and head of the North Linden Area Commission.
Ragland will be sworn in on Wednesday, and join the board for their December 4th meeting.
