With a coin toss, Lisa Callan had to answer the first of 11 questions posed to the two remaining school board candidates at the March 20 special meeting of the Issaquah School District board of directors.

Callan and Alison Meryweather were the two who remained after the March 6 meeting when five candidates were interviewed. In the end, Meryweather was the victor to fill the seat vacated by Chad Magendanz, who resigned to serve in the state Legislature representing District 5.

Meryweather will still have to earn the voter’s approval in November, when the term ends. While Meryweather has been an education advocate for 10 years, Callan comes from a family of educators. Both women had strong feelings about listening to the voice of the community they represent, with Callan saying transparency was important to her.

When asked about the learning curve — how fast each one could get up to speed on the issues, Meryweather was confident she has the knowledge, although admitting she doesn’t have all the jargon down.

“This is a very different dynamic, having everything public and podcast,” she said, comparing it to other boards she has served on.

Callan said the learning curve would be steep for her, but she said with her engineering and software background, she would bring diversity and understanding of data to the mix. With only four members on the board to vote, Marnie Maraldo, Anne Moore, Suzanne Weaver and Brian Deagle, after a lengthy executive session, the vote was split.

Maraldo and Moore were in favor of Meryweather, with Weaver and Deagle voting for Callan. Proving to be an awkward situation, Deagle said if they couldn’t come to a majority vote, the decision would have to be made by the Puget Sound Educational Service District, which would mean a delay in having a full board again, as well as putting the decision into the hands of an entity that doesn’t know Issaquah or its needs.

“It’s a testament to how qualified these last two candidates are that we split,” Deagle said.

On a second round of votes, Maraldo, Moore and Weaver were not willing to change their vote, but Deagle did, awarding the seat to Meryweather.

Callan does not know yet if she will challenge Meryweather in the November election.