Eight seek NLR School Board slot

Candidates to speak at meeting today prior to selection

Eight people have applied to temporarily fill the North Little Rock School Board's Zone 4 seat vacancy that resulted from the death last month of School Board member Ron Treat, district spokesman Rhonda Colquitt said Monday.

The board will meet at 5:30 p.m. today at the district's administration building, 2700 Poplar St., to hear presentations from the eight applicants and to appoint someone to the seat until the annual September school election is held and the seat is filled with a publicly elected member.

The applicants are:

• Christopher Bryan Powers -- first officer for Western Global Airlines, a freight transportation system; and owner/operator of Delta Real Estate Investment Group.

• Chris B. Johnson -- certified public accountant and current principal financial officer/senior vice president for Dillard's Inc., as well as chief financial officer of CDI Contractors LLC, which is a subsidiary of Dillard's Inc.

• Mary L. Parker -- English instructor at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff for three years and formerly a 10-year instructor at Arkansas State University.

• Chivonda R. Coleman -- fiscal support analyst/student-worker supervisor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock since 2013 and formerly employed at the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration for six years.

• Norma L. Dixon -- secretary to the executive director of operations in the Pulaski County Special School District and assistant director at First Baptist Church in North Little Rock.

• Gregg Jaquez -- clergyman for the Assemblies of God denomination since 1991 and a tax preparer for H&R Block.

• Taniesha L. Richardson-Wiley -- public health section chief III for the Arkansas Department of Health's Health Connections Section and ConnectCare Program, after holding other positions at the agency since 2000.

• Vernada L. Watkins -- director and owner of Elaine's Second Step Day Care in North Little Rock since 2006 and formerly a classification specialist for 12 years with the Pulaski County sheriff's office where her responsibilities included determining appropriate inmate housing assignments.

The person appointed to the position by the School Board will be eligible to run for election for a three-year term to the seat in the Sept. 20 school election -- as long as the candidate lives within the district's Zone 4.

Zone 4 encompasses the northwest part of the city, including much of the Amboy and Levy neighborhoods.

The filing period for that election is July 5-12 in the Pulaski County clerk's office.

By law, a school board has 30 days from the first day a board seat is vacant to fill the seat. If the board fails to make the appointment within that time period, the authority to make the appointment is assumed by the county's quorum court. It is left to a school board to decide whether to advertise for and take applications or use a less formal process for filling a vacancy.

School board positions are unpaid. School board members are required by law to annually file financial disclosure information and undergo annual school board training.

Treat, 67, was nearing the completion of his third three-year term on the board at the time of his death May 30. He was a store manager for Summerwood Partners and a retired major from the Army National Guard.

Metro on 06/21/2016

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