Registered voters in Wards 1 and 2 received a postcard in the mail a few weeks back announcing the special election scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 21 — but in the off chance you quickly tossed in the garbage, allow us to fill you in: In April, D.C. Board of Education member Jeff Smith resigned his seat in protest immediately after the D.C. Council gave preliminary approval to Mayor Adrian Fenty’s school takeover plan, so now we’re set to have a special election to replace the District I Member of the D.C. State Board of Education. The winner of Tuesday’s election will serve out Smith’s remaining term, which ends on Jan. 2, 2009.

The postcard we have is a little light on details, other than that the election is open only to Wards 1 and 2, and if you head over to the DCBOEE web site, you can understand why: there’s only one name on the ballot, that of Mary Lord, a longtime education reporter, active member of the Dupont Circle Citizens Association, and parent of DCPS students. Of course, the school board now has diminished powers and responsibilities under Mayor Fenty’s school takeover restructuring, but the body still plays a role in defining standards and curriculum as well as oversight of state-related functions such as standardized testing.

It seems a foregone conclusion that Lord will win Tuesday’s special election, but one reader did write in to let us know about a write-in candidacy for Jason Crawford, a young first-year teacher at a public school in Southeast, D.C.