Deadline passes, 14 in School Board race

County district has 7 positions to fill

A total of 14 people filed by the deadline Tuesday to run for election to seven School Board positions in the Pulaski County Special School District.

The winners in the Nov. 8 election will constitute the first locally elected School Board in the district since June 2011. That's when the State Department of Education took control of what was then an 18,000-student district for fiscal distress. The School Board was dissolved and the superintendent was immediately replaced by an executive who answered to the Arkansas education commissioner.

The Arkansas Board of Education determined earlier this year that the district had corrected the financial problems that resulted in its state takeover five years ago. The state Education Board directed that the district be returned to the control of a school board once one is elected and trained.

Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key then directed that the election be held not in September when school board elections are traditionally held but in conjunction with the Nov. 8 general election. That joint election is allowed by a 2015 state law.

The district has changed since the 2011 takeover. The enrollment is now about 12,000 students, reflecting the detachment from the district of the new Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District. Additionally, the district's board election zones have been reconfigured and renumbered.

Two of the candidates who filed for election to the Pulaski Special board were members of the board that was dissolved: Mildred Tatum of southeast Pulaski County, who is running for the Zone 2 seat, and Gloria Lawrence of Sherwood who is running for the Zone 3 position.

Four other candidates are or have been members of the district's state-appointed Community Advisory Board that met monthly to advise Key on district matter, including policy changes and employment. Current advisory board members who are now candidates are Linda Remele, running from Zone 3 in Sherwood, Shelby Thomas from Zone 4 in Sherwood, and Brian Maune from Zone 7 in west Pulaski County. Julian McMurray, also from Zone 7, is a former advisory board member.

Two of the seven open School Board positions are not being contested. Three positions will feature two-person races and two positions will feature three-person races. The three-person races could result in runoff elections later in November if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes cast in the race.

The candidates by zone are:

ZONE 1

Mike Kemp, mayor of Shannon Hills in southwest Pulaski County. He works part time as a radio news announcer for the Arkansas Radio Network and KARN.

ZONE 2

Tatum, a longtime small-business owner and mother of six adult children, who served on the board from 1982 until 2011.

Tina Renee Ward, who did not immediately return a message left on her phone Tuesday evening.

ZONE 3

Remele, a retired district administrator and co-chairman of the Sherwood Education Foundation.

Lawrence, who retired from the district in 2010 in after more than 27 years as a teacher. She was elected to the board in September 2010.

ZONE 4

Thomas, an energy specialist for Irby Electrical Distributors.

Cori Burgett Fetters, who has a North Little Rock mailing address in a zone that is west and north of Sherwood. The daughter of two former members of the Pulaski Special board, Fetters is a former store owner who is now a stay-at-home mom.

Leonard Smith of Sherwood, who could not be reached by telephone Tuesday evening because the voice mail was full.

ZONE 5

Alicia Gillen of North Little Rock, who is the executive director of the Maumelle Area Chamber of Commerce.

ZONE 6

Samuel Branch of Maumelle, a retired 35-year teacher and principal and now an agent for the Keller Williams realty company.

Eli Keller of Maumelle, a sergeant in the Maumelle Police Department and supervisor of the agency's school resource officers.

ZONE 7

Maune, an account manager at ChemTreat, a specialty chemical company.

James "Jim" Jolley, who administers the forest legacy grant program and is geographic information system coordinator for the Forestry Commission.

McMurray, president of One Spine @ A Time, a chiropractic practice.

Metro on 08/31/2016

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