Dwivedy granted leave of absence from Eden Prairie School Board

One of the seven members of the Eden Prairie School Board has been granted a temporary leave of absence, prompting the board to seek an interim replacement until his return.

Debjyoti “DD” Dwivedy has been out of the country since last summer due to his deployment as a company commander with the U.S. Army Reserve. (Read more about Dwivedy’s service and deployment here.) This is the second time Dwivedy has taken a leave of absence to fulfill military duties.

Last June, during a board meeting discussion about whether it was practical for him to try to remain an active board member, Dwivedy said he would try to attend as many meetings as possible remotely. He also said he would notify the board if it became apparent this approach would not work.

However, since then, Dwivedy has missed many meetings and important votes, effectively leaving the board as a team of six rather than seven members.

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Dwivedy attended part of the school board meeting on Dec. 9 but eventually had to leave because it was nearly 5 a.m. local time for him, and he said he had another meeting to attend.

In his absence, Casper told the board that Dwivedy had approached him recently to let him know that it was becoming more difficult than anticipated to attend meetings due to the demands of his deployment, including wide-ranging travel, unreliable internet connections, and the significant time difference.

Casper said, “He’s recognizing things have changed for him in his current role in the military, so he has made the decision to step aside and take a temporary leave from his board position.” He added, “I just want to thank DD publicly for his willingness to go ahead and try to make it work.”

Minnesota law states that if a board member is unable to fulfill their duties for 90 days or more due to illness or prolonged absence from the district, the board should appoint an interim member until the absent board member can return during their elected term. It is expected that it will be at least 90 days from Dec. 9 before Dwivedy will return.

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As such, Casper said the board needs to find a way to fill Dwivedy’s spot as soon as possible. “It is my druther that we try to simplify the process, but I’m just one board member on the board, and there’s a couple different things that that we could do,” he said.

Casper outlined a few options, including appointing one of the recent school board candidates who did not win, finding another community member through an external process, or keeping an outgoing member on the board a bit longer.

Several board members suggested during the ensuing discussion that either of the current but outgoing board members, Charles “CJ” Strehl and Dennis Stubbs, could be requested to stay on the board after their terms end in January until Dwivedy returns. Both Strehl and Stubbs indicated they would be open to considering this.

Casper said the board will discuss how to resolve the situation when the two newly elected board members, Ann Bradsher and Jody Ward-Rannow, begin their terms at the annual organizational meeting on Jan. 6, 2025.

Following the meeting, Dwivedy sent a message to his fellow board members explaining his decision and saying that he anticipated his leave of absence would last until mid-2025.