The cookies, water bottles and coffee were on the boardroom table, but no guests were eating or drinking.

That was the scene Thursday night after a call to community members interested in serving on the Coos Bay School Board beginning in July fell flat.

Superintendent Karen Fisher Gray was joined by board members Richard Sebesta, Wally Hazen, Don Blom and Charlie Sharps to field questions from anyone who might have shown up.

Only one person - Vicki L. Goodrich - arrived to ask questions of the board about what it would mean to serve as an elected official for the district.

Aside from her one question about conflict of interest - Goodrich currently serves on the South Coast Educational Service District, no other questions were put forth.

Goodrich has been a fixture in the school board audience, and said Thursday that she has missed only one meeting in the last five years. She was one of three candidates hoping to fill the seat of Sue Walberg in January after Walberg announced her retirement at the end of 2004. But, she did not receive any votes from the six-member board, who instead voted to appoint Donna Stolle Opitz - a 10-year board veteran - to Walberg's former seat.

When it became evident that potential candidates were not just running late, or having trouble parking for Thursday's meeting, the group shifted gears and described what future board members should expect, and theorized as to why no one showed up.

Fisher Gray said she had spoken with at least two people Thursday who indicated they plan to file papers for the positions, but who told her they were unable to attend Thursday's meeting. Blom said many candidates don't file until the last week, or day, before the election papers are due.

Many agreed that community members were unwilling or unable to commit the time to serving on government boards.

Hazen said board members can expect to put in 40 hours of work each week, depending on their commitment level. Fisher Gray said that was not necessarily true, unless a board member was appointed to an intense committee assignment like the bargaining committee.

She welcomed the upcoming election as a chance to fill school board seats with a parent who has a child in one of the Coos Bay schools. Blom and Stolle Opitz, are the only members of the seven-member board who have children in the school district. Other board members' children have since graduated from high school.

The lack of interest in school politics also was made evident Wednesday evening, when only five people attended an event, titled "Coffee with Karen" at Millicoma Intermediate School. The school district put out 600 flyers and brought in five dozen cookies. Fisher Gray said she had great conversations with the people who attended, but expected more people to show.

"If even just to complain," she said, adding that next month she will hold similar events at Sunset Middle School and Madison Elementary School.

During the gathering, Sharps said the reason he is not seeking re-election is because of time commitments to two other boards - the Coos Bay-North Bend Water Board and the Hospice Board.

"I've been in education for 36 years," he said. "I'll probably regret it, but there are only so many hours in the day."

By 4:25, no one else had shown up and the meeting broke up.