The Bellefonte Area School Board is now accepting applications to fill a vacancy created by a member’s resignation after he was arrested on an assault charge last week.
Residents interested in filling the vacancy should submit an application, resume and letter of interest by noon on April 18. The application form is available online and should be submitted to lelder@basd.net or Mrs. Leslie Elder, 318 N. Allegheny St., Bellefonte, PA 16823.
The individual selected to fill the vacancy will serve the remainder of Jack Bechdel II’s term expiring in December.
To be eligible, candidates must be at least 18 years of age and must have been a resident of the school district for at least one year prior to the date of the appointment.
The remaining eight members of the board will select the person to fill the vacancy. Candidates will be interviewed during the board’s meeting at 7 p.m. on April 22 at the Bellefonte Area Middle School cafeteria.
Bechdel resigned from the board on Friday night, two days after he was accused of striking his girlfriend in the face and shoving her out of a car.
He was charged with one misdemeanor count of simple assault and a summary count of physical harassment after the incident on April 2 in College Township.
His girlfriend told State College police that Bechdel had driven her to Sheetz and began arguing with her about her drinking habits, according to an affidavit of probable cause. Bechdel then allegedly reached across her, opened the passenger side door while the vehicle was in motion and pushed her out along Shiloh Road.
The woman said “her left ankle had been run over after being shoved out of the vehicle,” police wrote. She then got back in the vehicle and asked Bechdel to take her home.
When they arrived at her residence, the woman said, Bechdel “struck her on the side of her face with a backhand swing while his fist was closed because she wouldn’t get out of the vehicle,” according to the affidavit. Bechdel then shoved her out of the car and drove away, police wrote.
An officer observed that the woman “had noticeable bruising and swelling under her left eye along with blood on her hands,” according to the affidavit.
Bechdel was located at Lowe’s in Patton Township and admitted to an officer that he struck the woman in the way she described, police wrote. He said he only did so because she struck him on the side of his face and mouth while he was driving, according to the affidavit.
He was arraigned on Thursday morning by District Judge Allen Sinclair and released on $10,000 unsecured bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Bechdel was elected to the board in 2021 and was in the final year of his first term. He had filed to run for reelection, and since the deadline to withdraw has already passed, will still appear on the ballot for the May 20 primary.
