School board election season looms

Another school year has just ended. That means the annual school board election season is just beginning.

Today marks the first day those interested in running for school board seats may begin circulating petitions to do so. Candidates may file their petitions between June 30 and July 7. Elections will be held Sept. 15.

School board seats up for election in September:

School DistrictPositionIncumbent

Benton County

BentonvilleZone 1Rebecca Powers

DecaturZone 2Aaron Owens

DecaturZone 4Loyd Smith

GentryZone 3Clarence Kreger

GravettePosition 4Daniel Yates

Pea RidgePosition 3Jeffrey Neil

Pea RidgePosition 5Ann Cato

RogersZone 3Kristen Cobbs

RogersZone 5Jerry Carmichael

Siloam SpringsZone 5Brent Butler

Washington County

ElkinsPosition 3Laren Vaught

FarmingtonPosition 3Tony Parsley

FayettevilleZone 2Bryn Bagwell

FayettevilleZone 3Justin Eichmann

GreenlandZone 1Todd Bohannan

GreenlandZone 2Paula Schoonover

GreenlandZone 7Deborah Crown

LincolnPosition 2Jim Ayers

LincolnPosition 5Nick Brewer

Prairie GrovePosition 2William Dick

Prairie GrovePosition 5Beth Everett

SpringdaleZone 5Danny Dotson

SpringdaleAt-large Position 1Mike Luttrell

West ForkPosition 3Deborah Harnish

Sources: School districts and Washington and Benton county clerks

Board candidates must file petitions with at least 20 signatures from registered voters within the school district or from within the zone they would represent to appear on ballots. They must be qualified voters and live in the district or electoral zone for which they're running.

Those who are interested in running for a position should contact their county clerk for more information and to obtain petition forms.

There are 24 seats up for election in Benton and Washington counties. At least one seat is available in each of the two counties' school districts.

Fayetteville

Bryn Bagwell is not seeking re-election, creating an open seat in Zone 2 on the Fayetteville School Board. Bagwell is finishing her first term.

Phil Jones, 58, hopes to take her place and will begin collecting signatures this afternoon, he said.

Jones developed a passion for public schools when he served on the Benton School Board before moving to Fayetteville in 2006.

"There's nothing more satisfying than to see students come into school and then to leave with great skills for education," he said.

Jones was employed by Nabholz Construction as a project executive on the Fayetteville High School project from 2010 through April 2014. For the latter two years of his employment, he led another unit for the company. That position was cut, and he left the company to start his consulting business and further his teaching career.

Jones is an adjunct faculty member in the College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas and in the business department of Ecclesia College. He owns Joshua Consulting Group, advising firms in design and construction on business development strategy.

He is married to Janis Jones. They have two adult daughters who live in Fayetteville and Johnson.

Justin Eichmann, 41, will seek a second five-year term in Zone 3.

He invested time during his first term working to understand the complexities of school finance, school policy and operations and wants to continue serving, he said. If returned to the School Board, he is interested in working on long-term financial strategies to put the district in a position to raises salaries.

"We need to make sure we're competitive and that we're providing compensation that's appropriate," he said.

He also wants to be an advocate for the district in discussions of state and national education policy, he said.

Eichmann, an attorney, is married to Sara Barnhart Eichmann. They have a son who will be in fifth grade at Owl Creek School and a daughter who will be in third grade at Leverett Elementary School.

Bentonville

The lone seat up for election in Bentonville is in Zone 1, which belongs to Rebecca Powers. Powers ran unopposed for the seat in 2012.

Board terms normally last five years, but when the Bentonville board changed to zoned seats in 2012, each member drew lots to determine when each position would be up for re-election so no more than two terms would expire each year. Powers drew 2015.

Powers, who works for Sam's Club, said Friday she's undecided on whether she will run again.

"I'm praying about what God wants me to do concerning the school board elections. This has been a time-consuming volunteer job, and I'm praying about what's best for my family," Powers said in an emailed statement.

Rogers

Jerry Carmichael, whose Zone 5 seat on the Rogers School Board is up for election, said he will not run this year. Carmichael, the board's president the past three years, has served since 1999. He is the board's longest-serving member.

"I have enjoyed being on the board, but I hope someone else will have an interest in stepping forward," Carmichael said.

Carmichael is a co-owner and chief financial officer of TY North America, a sales and marketing company in Bentonville. He is proud of how the board has worked together.

"In all the years I've served, it was never about an individual board member," he said. "It was always about a group coming together and doing what we felt was in the best interest of our students, the district and the staff. I have been blessed to serve with some really good people."

He noted Janie Darr has been the district's superintendent as long as he's been on the board.

Kristen Cobbs, another Rogers board member, does intend to run for her third term. She has two kids in high school, she said.

Both Cobbs and Carmichael were unopposed the last time they ran for their respective seats in 2010.

Springdale

Board president Mike Luttrell's and board member Danny Dotson's seats are up for election.

Dotson, 65, plans to seek re-election for a third term, he said. He's an active volunteer, but finds the School Board to be the most rewarding and enjoys seeing children learning to love education, their schools and teachers, he said.

If re-elected, Dotson anticipates continuing to work on confronting the ongoing growth in Springdale schools and meeting the needs of children from diverse backgrounds. He supports paying for teachers to travel to training sessions on the best practices to implement in Springdale.

Dotson is married to Kathy Dotson, and they have two adult daughters. Danny Dotson is retired, but is a former advertising director for the Springdale Morning News and a former vice president of marketing for the old National Bank of Springdale. He works part-time in marketing for Everett Chevrolet.

Luttrell did not respond to phone messages left Thursday and Friday. He served on the board from 2002 to 2007, then was appointed to the board in late 2008 to fill a seat vacated by Doug Sprouse when Sprouse became Springdale's mayor.

NW News on 06/07/2015

Upcoming Events