SPRINGDALE -- School Board members voted unanimously Wednesday to appoint Eddie Ramos to the Zone 5 seat left vacant by the resignation of Danny Dotson last month.
Ramos, an assistant vice president with Legacy National Bank, may serve on the board until at least next spring, when the term expires. He will have to run for re-election if he wants to keep the seat.
"I've been in Springdale for a long time, so finding a way to give back is something I'm honored to do," he said.
Ramos, 34, and his wife have two children, ages 4 and 5, enrolled in the School District.
Jana Ransom, a stay-at-home mother of two children, was the only other person who applied for the board opening. Board members met in executive session for about 10 minutes Wednesday to discuss the applicants before voting to appoint Ramos.
Zone 5 covers most of the eastern half of the School District. Anyone who was interested in applying for the position had to be a resident of the zone.
Ramos wrote in a letter to the board expressing his interest in the seat that he and his family first visited Springdale in the summer of 1994 when he was 10 years old. His father was an elementary teacher at the time in Mexico.
"Due to my father's profession, we had the summers to travel and found ourselves in Arkansas that year," Ramos wrote. "After some adjustment, our parents decided to stay."
Ramos graduated from Springdale High School in 2003 and obtained a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Arkansas in 2008.
Ramos is Springdale's first Hispanic board member in a decade. About 47 percent of the School District's students are Hispanic, according to state data. He mentioned his ethnicity in his letter to the board.
Springdale School Board Members
• Zone 1: Kevin Ownbey
• Zone 2: Nick Emerson
• Zone 3: Debbie Creek
• Zone 4: Randy Hutchinson
• Zone 5: Eddie Ramos
• At-large: Michelle Cook
• At-large: Mike Luttrell
Source: Staff Report
"I believe the Springdale School Board would greatly benefit from having someone Hispanic on the board to not only represent its diverse population, but also inspire young students to become leaders in their community," he wrote.
Eddie Cantu was the last Hispanic to serve on the Springdale board. Cantu was appointed in 2008 to fill the remainder of Randy Hutchinson's term. Hutchinson, who had resigned so his sister could accept a job with the district, returned to the board in 2009, defeating Cantu in an election.
Dotson, 69, was elected to his first term in 2005. He ran unopposed that year and again in 2010 and 2015. He stepped down last month to allow his son-in-law to accept a position in the School District's Maintenance Department, according to Superintendent Jim Rollins.
Board policy states the district shall not hire a board member's relative for compensation of more than $5,000 unless the state Department of Education commissioner has granted approval, and such a move shall be made only in "unusual and limited" circumstances.
NW News on 03/28/2019