Elections for North Little Rock, county school seats draw 5 filers so far

File Photo
File Photo

One newcomer and four incumbents have filed as candidates for election Nov. 2 to open positions on the school boards for the Pulaski County Special and North Little Rock school districts.

Laurel Tait -- a mother to five, grandmother to 24 and a podiatrist -- filed Tuesday for the Zone 7 seat on the Pulaski County Special district's board for a seat currently held by Brian Maune.

Others who have filed with the Pulaski County clerk's office in advance of today's noon filing deadline are North Little Rock board incumbents:

• Tracy Steele, 58, Zone 2.

• Rochelle Redus, 56, Zone 3.

• Cindy Temple, 60, Zone 5.

• Natalie Wankum, 40, Zone 7.

So far, no one has filed for the Zone 3 seat on the Pulaski County Special board -- a seat now held by five-year board President Linda Remele, 70, of Sherwood.

Tait, 65, said she is motivated to run by a desire to be more involved in helping students get a better education.

"It seems like there is a lot of turmoil in the world and we don't want it impacting the kids in the schools if we can help it," she said.

Married to Veterans Affairs hospital physician Dr. John Tait, Laurel Tait said she went to undergraduate school at the University of South Florida and then attended Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine.

Of Tait's children and grandchildren, one son and his five children live in the west Pulaski County zone that Tait is seeking to represent.

Maune, 40, has said in recent days that he is undecided about running for reelection.

The Pulaski County Special board terms are five years and unpaid.

However, school board members statewide have been advised that election zones will have to be adjusted after the release of U.S. Census data and that all seats in districts with election zones must be open in 2022.

In North Little Rock, Steele -- a former state senator and current director of the Arkansas Health Services Permit Agency -- has served two, three-year terms on the board.

Redus is a disability services counselor at Pulaski Technical College. She is married to Reginald Redus. Her two children are graduates of district schools, although her son has since passed away.

Redus is finishing a three-year term but was on the board earlier, from 2000 to 2006.

Temple, current board president and vice president of SP Environmental, has held the seat since late 2017 when she was appointed to fill a vacancy. She was elected to the seat in 2018.

In Zone 7, Wankum is running for a second term. She is a North Little Rock native and an administrative assistant for a dental group. She and her husband, attorney Jeff Wankum, have three children including two in district schools and one who has graduated.

North Little Rock terms have been for three years and are unpaid.

Elsewhere in Pulaski County, the Jacksonville/North Pulaski County School Board held elections in May.

The nine-member Little Rock board was elected in its entirety last November and December, and will not have a board election until November 2022.

While there will be no candidates on the ballot this year, the Little Rock board is considering the placement of a proposed property-tax extension on the November school election ballot. A School Board decision on that ballot issue is expected in August.

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