APU professor appointed to Baldwin Park school board

A university professor and Baldwin Park pastor has filled a recently vacated seat on the school board.

Paul Flores was appointed by a unanimous vote of the Baldwin Park Unified School District Board of Education on Thursday.

He is replacing Marco Dominguez, who resigned Jan. 1 after accepting a full-time position to teach Spanish at Texas Tech University.

Flores is director of the Azusa Pacific University Liberal Studies/Undergraduate Education K-8 Program, and an assistant professor of liberal studies. He is also a pastor at Church of the Redeemer in Baldwin Park.

Flores will finish out Dominguez's term, which is up in November. He plans to run again during the board's November elections.

A total of five candidates initially applied for the open seat -- Flores, Luis Carranza, Olga Morales, Leonor Garcia and David Olivas, the former Baldwin Park city councilman who announced early last year he would not be defending his council seat because he wanted to focus on his law career.

Olivas and Garcia withdrew their applications before Thursday's special meeting, district Superintendent Mark Skvarna said.

Olivas said he only applied because at the time, no other applications had been submitted.