PENDLETON — Come this summer, nearly half of the Pendleton School District Board will consist of new faces.

At a Jan. 6 school board meeting, Chair Debbie McBee announced that she and board members Gary George and Steve Umbarger intended to retire from the board at the end of their terms expiring in June.

The retirements will open three seats on the seven-person school board, and McBee encouraged her colleagues to solicit interest among district residents in running for the seats.

The school board is losing its most experienced members: McBee was first elected in 2009 while Umbarger was appointed in 2010 before he was elected to fill the rest of the term in 2011.

George was appointed in 2016 and went on to win his single term unopposed the following year. George, the CEO of Wildhorse Resort & Casino, is the only school board member who is also an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

McBee said she’s already spoken with some people who are interested in running for one of the seats. Although each seat is designated a numbered “position,” all the seats are elected on an at-large basis, meaning anyone who lives in the Pendleton School District can run for the seat regardless of where they live.

The deadline for school board candidates to file for the May 18 election is March 18.