Keaton Smith earns second term on Fayetteville School Board

Keaton Smith
Keaton Smith


FAYETTEVILLE -- A School Board member will retain his seat for another five years after his win in Tuesday's election.

Keaton Smith held off challenger Heather Clouse to earn a second term in the at-large, Position 2 seat on the board.

Complete but unofficial results show Smith leading Clouse:

Smith 3,010 (76%)

Clouse 945 (24%)

Smith, 38, is a vice president and commercial relationship manager at First Horizon Bank. Besides his School Board service, he also serves on the board of the Community Development Corp. of Bentonville/Bella Vista and the Advisory Board of Urban Land Institute NWA.

He has a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in business from the University of Arkansas. He is the son of two public school educators -- an elementary school principal and an elementary school teacher.

He's lived in the School District for 20 years. He and his wife have two daughters, who are 6 years old and 6 months old.

"I'm so grateful for so many friends and volunteers and supporters that talked to their friends, that called and texted people with reminders about the election, that knocked on doors and made phone calls," Smith said late Tuesday. "Just grateful for the team effort and excited to continue serving."

He said the district has "a good thing going" and added he's excited about the new superintendent the board hired earlier this year. John Mulford will take over as superintendent on July 1 for John L Colbert, who is retiring.

Smith's support was evident before the election from his latest campaign finance report, which showed he received a total of $9,500 from 91 donors through May 1. Clouse reported receiving $3,550 in nearly the same time frame.

Clouse, 46, is a former education/disability specialist for Northwest Arkansas Head Start. She was making her first bid for a political office.

Smith is one of two at-large members of the seven-member Fayetteville board. The other is Megan Tullock. At-large board members represent the entire School District, so all voters in the district were eligible to vote in this election.

School board members in Arkansas are unpaid volunteers.

  photo  Keaton Smith
 
 


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