During a meeting Monday night, the Puyallup School District board of directors announced five candidates to replace the seat vacated by Kathy Afflerbaugh’s recent resignation.

The candidates are Ashlyn Arnold, an adjunct professor at Pierce College-Puyallup who works with GED students around the region and has seven of her own children; Christopher Ihrig, vice president of a business management and training consultants group who also applied for a vacant board position in January; Marcello Mancini, a South Hill resident who serves as vice president and plant manager for Medallion Foods in Tacoma; Therese Pasquier, a 20-year health care administrator and board member for the Puyallup Valley Food Bank; and Mary Reeves, a stay-at-home mother of two who homeschooled both children and has volunteer experience with several organizations.

The school board will interview all five candidates on Thursday, Oct. 29. The interviews begin at 6 p.m. at the district’s Educational Service Center, 302 Second St. S.E. in Puyallup. The board is expected to announce Afflerbaugh’s replacement at its regular meeting on Nov. 9. The new board member will fill the remainder of Afflerbaugh’s term through 2011.