The Lucia Mar Unified School District board has appointed a new member to serve the remainder of longtime board member Erik Howell’s term.

Don Stewart, a faculty member at PCPA Theaterfest at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, will serve through November 2014,  district spokeswoman Amy Jacobs said.

The district board decided to appoint someone to fill Howell’s term instead of holding a special election, which would have cost $193,000, Jacobs said. Howell resigned from the school board after he was elected to the Pismo Beach City Council in November.

He represented the trustee area covering Grover Beach and Pismo Beach.

In a recent interview session, interested applicants were asked several questions, and then board members selected three people — Stewart, Elizabeth Summers and Jennifer Matsuura — to advance to the second round.

Four board members voted to appoint Stewart to the vacant post, including Chad Robertson, Vern Dahl, Vicki Meagher and Mark Millis, Jacobs said. Board member Dee Santos voted for Matsuura, and member Colleen Martin voted for Summers.

Stewart, who lives in Shell Beach, serves as a legal guardian to two younger brothers, one of whom currently attends Arroyo Grande High School. The other brother recently graduated from the high school.

He has taught as a substitute teacher in the district and served as guest theater director at Nipomo High, Jacobs said.