BENTONVILLE — Willie Cowgur appeared to have defeated Joe Quinn on Tuesday for Position 1 on the School Board.
Marshall Ney decided not to run for re-election to the seat. Todd Franke also ran for the seat but did not receive enough votes to make it to the runoff election.
Cowgur, 34, was leading Quinn, 55, in the runoff by press deadlines.
PROFILE
Willie Cowgur
Age: 34
Residency: Bentonville
Family: Wife, Martha, two sons, one daughter.
Employment: Senior manager, planning and integration at Sam’s Club.
Education: Bachelor’s in history from the University of Arkansas.
Military experience: None
Political experience: None
With six of the six precincts reporting, Cowgur had 683 votes, or 62 percent, to Quinn’s 422 votes, or 38 percent.
“I really want to thank the community for getting out and supporting me,” Cowgur said Tuesday night. “It feels good that I am going to be able to represent the great school district in Bentonville.”
Cowgur also mentioned Quinn and Franke.
“I would like to recognize Joe and Todd Franke for representing the community well,” Cowgur said.
Cowgur has two children in the district and graduated from Bentonville High School. He has said in the past he’s a proponent of a second high school but willing to listen to other options.
District officials expect more than 4,000 students at the high school by 2014. The School Board plans to address whether or not to ask voters for a millage increase for the construction of either a second high school or ninth-grade center Oct. 17.
“I am pretty confident with the information I have; I know which way I would vote,” Cowgur said about the Monday meeting. “I am hoping to listen to other options over the next week until the board meeting on Monday.”
Another runoff for the Gentry School Board Zone 4 seat occurred on Tuesday. Randall Bolinger appeared to win the seat with 21 votes (67.74 percent). Candidate Kent Swinney received 10 votes (32.26 percent).