Four candidates will interview next month for the seventh seat on the Austin School Board.

The board’s Personnel Committee whittled down a field of nine applicants at a closed meeting Monday, selecting Aaron DeVries, Robin Krueger, Jeff Ollman and Lisa Peters as finalists for the seat.

DeVries and Ollman both ran unsuccessfully in the last school board election.

The seventh seat has been vacant since March when the board voted unanimously to oust Curt Rude, deciding a pending defamation suit he held against the district and a former superintendent posed a conflict of interest. The lawsuit was dismissed by a judge earlier this month.

Superintendent David Krenz said Monday that the finalists were selected in a closed meeting because a candidate will be appointed by the board rather than elected.

The final interviews will take place July 20 in a public meeting held in the city council chambers. The meeting time had not been scheduled by press time.