School Board Elections next Tuesday

School Board Elections next Tuesday

Early voting starts tomorrow at County Courthouse

ralphhardin@gmail.com School Board elections will take place across the state on Tuesday, Sept. 20, including Crittenden County’s three public school districts: Earle, Marion and West Memphis.

Early voting begins tomorrow. All early voting will take place at the County Courthouse.

While school board elections in recent years have failed to generate serious interest locally, it’s a different story this year, at least in West Memphis. All seven races (five by geographic district zones and two at-large seats) feature at least two candidates, with at least one sitting school board member guaranteed to lose his or her seat.

Thanks to consolidation with the Hughes School District, the lines of the WMSD district map were redrawn to include the Hughes community. As a result, the School Zone where board members D’James Rogers (Wilson Street) and Leslie Wells (Beatty Street) reside became part of the same zone. As both are running for reelection, in the newly-configured School Zone 2, at least one of them will be forced off of the board — “at least one” because a third candidate, Nakecia A.

Homes (East Barton), has also filed to run for that seat.

And the West Memphis board is also guaranteed a new face, again thanks to the new district map. In School Zone 5, Patti Castle (Horseshoe Lake) and Andrea Dancy (Proctor) will be vying to represent that zone, which includes the newly-incorporated Hughes community.

In the two at-large races, incumbent, School Board Secretary Randy Catt will be opposed by Patsy Parrish- Hull (both West Memphis residents) for At-Large Position 1. And in the At-Large Position 2 race, incumbent, School Board President Gary Masner (West Memphis) will face opposition from Rudolph Robinson (Hughes).

In the School Zone 1 race, incumbent Eddie West will be challenged by Al Felton (both of West Memphis). In School Zone 3, incumbent Randy Sullivan will face challenger Veronica Brooks (both of West Memphis).

And incumbent school board member Phillip Sorrell will be opposed by Courtney Hill Sr (both of West Memhpis).

It’s a little less exciting elsewhere in the county.

Two Marion School Board members’ terms will be expiring

this year and neither will face an opponent in

their re-election bids.

Longtime Marion School Board president A. Jan Thomas Jr., of Clarkedale, is unopposed for his School Board Zone 1 position, as is School Zone 3 board member Jeffery Richardson,

of Marion.

In Earle, only a single seat is up for grabs, and that candidate is unopposed as well. Sarah Johnson, of Earle, is the only candidate for the School Zone 2 seat there.

By Ralph Hardin