In this file photo from April 2, 2013, Kristie Adair talks with people gathered at a watch party on election night in the Alton Ballroom at Pachamama's.

Lawrence school board member Kris Adair’s announcement that she will “take a less active role” with the board through May is causing some disagreement among board members — and has prompted the board president to suggest that Adair resign.

School board President Vanessa Sanburn said that though unplanned absences do occur, being present at meetings and other engagements is expected and part of board policy. Sanburn said that she has suggested to Adair that she consider stepping down if she is not able to attend board meetings.

“People have missed board meetings before, but I think when it’s an extended absence that is planned because life is busy, personally, I think the most appropriate thing to do is resign in that situation,” Sanburn said.

Adair was absent from various board engagements over the past few weeks, including the final stages of the search for the Lawrence school district’s new superintendent.

From left, Lawrence school board member Kristie Adair and school board president Vanessa Sanburn pose with other members of the board after new members were sworn in on Wednesday, July 1, 2015.

The board spent about 30 hours on the final stages of the superintendent hiring process — selecting semifinalists, conducting semifinalist interviews, selecting finalists and conducting finalist interviews — over a two-week period, none of which Adair participated in. Last week, the board deliberated for eight hours before selecting current Assistant Superintendent Kyle Hayden as the district’s new superintendent on a 6-0 vote. Sanburn said that during the many hours of interviews and deliberations, no input was received from Adair.

“She did alert me ahead of time that she thought she would be late to (the meeting for selecting semifinalists on Feb. 29), but she didn’t make it at all,” Sanburn said.

Adair explained her absence and level of participation with the board in an email to the Journal-World earlier this week. She said that she is one of three founders of a new company that was recently accepted into a 90-day business accelerator program called Techstars, which is designed to help businesses expand.

“During the 90 days that I’m here learning to be a better entrepreneur I’ll be taking a less active role in the School Board,” Adair wrote. “(School board President) Vanessa (Sanburn) is a fantastic leader and our board has a cooperative consensus based approach to governance. I’ll return to a more active role after the Techstars program concludes on May 24. Until then I’ll remain in close contact with the board president and will be in attendance when necessary.”

Sanburn said that so far Adair had not been in close contact with the board and that an agreement had not been reached about how to proceed.

“(Adair’s statement) made it seem as though she was in regular contact with me and I would alert her as to when it was appropriate for her to come and when it was important for her to come,” Sanburn said. “And we never had that conversation other than me communicating to her that I thought it was important that she attend board meetings.”

Sanburn said the board has not had a meeting to discuss the situation, though ultimately the decision is not one the board will make.

“It’s really up to the public,” Sanburn said. “She’s an elected member of a governing body, so it’s really up to them if they think that it’s appropriate or not.”

Adair did not return phone calls from the Journal-World, but said in an email that she was surprised at Sanburn’s reaction.

“Although I was unable to attend the superintendent interviews, I read through the resumes,” she wrote in an email Wednesday. “I was surprised to hear Vanessa (Sanburn) was dissatisfied. I’ll be sure to reach out to her.”

Adair also said that she won’t be able to attend board meetings until the 90-day program is complete, but that she will return to her duties at that time.

“Though I’d love to have the financial freedom to attend every meeting over the 4 year term, this 90 day program is important to my livelihood and to the livelihoods of my employees,” she wrote in the email. “We are working 16 hour days and it simply isn’t feasible for me to attend, though I’m happy to provide my input when it is requested. I’m looking forward to returning to my duties when the program concludes on May 24.”