Eleven people are leaving their marks on history by running in Tuesday's election for the new seven-member Jacksonville/North Pulaski County School Board.
The Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District was created late last year by the Arkansas Board of Education after voters in the Jacksonville area decided overwhelmingly to separate from the Pulaski County Special School District.
Excitement about the new district and the desire to make it a success are universal themes in the campaigns of the candidates.
"I am so ready for us to have our own district," said Dena Toney, an unopposed candidate from the district's Zone 5. "Pulaski County Special School District has been great ... but we want our money to stay local. We want to put it back into our kids and our community. There are some great schools that have been built for Pulaski County Special, but we don't get to benefit from them."
The new district remains under the direction of the Pulaski County Special district for now but is to begin operating independently on July 1.
A state-appointed interim School Board has been working through the transition in recent months. That work included establishing School Board election zones for the new district.
The interim board decided on a plan for five zone positions and two at-large positions. For the zone positions, voters within a particular zone will select a board member from candidates who live within that zone. For the at-large positions, voters from all over the district will vote on those candidates.
Candidates seeking four of the seven board positions are unopposed in the election. There are three contested races. Once the board members are chosen, they will each draw for two-, three- or four-year terms. That will establish staggered terms so that in future elections not all board members will be up for re-election at the same time. After these initial terms expire, all future terms will be four years.
The last day of early voting is Monday. Votes can be cast from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Pulaski County Regional Building at 501 W. Markham St. in Little Rock. Election day is Tuesday.
Daniel Gray, the father of two students and the president of Jacksonville/North Pulaski's interim School Board, is unchallenged in his bid for Position 1 on the new board, an at-large position.
Gray has said the new district's immediate challenge is upgrading its school buildings.
"We have to figure out how to accomplish that and meet the timelines that exist for participating in the state partnership funds. Our backs are up against the wall, so we need to buckle down and do what we need to get it done as quick as possible."
The new board is to hold a work session Sept. 21 on upgrading the district's facilities.
In addition to Toney and Gray, unopposed candidates for the board are Carol Miles, who is running in Zone 2, and LaConda Watson, who is running in Zone 4.
Ronald McDaniel and Celeste Williams are vying for the second at-large seat, Position 2.
Marcia Anne Dornblaser and Richard L. Moss are running for the Zone 1 seat.
The Zone 3 race is distinctive in that candidates Jim Moore and Jerald Reichenbach are joined by write-in candidate Barry J. Roper.
McDaniel, who is a member of the interim School Board and one of Jacksonville's representatives on the Pulaski County Special district's citizen's advisory committee, said he's running for election because "I want to see it work, and I think I have a good idea on how we can do it in a cooperative manner. I want to make sure we get off on the right track."
As an elected board member, McDaniel said, his emphasis will be on ensuring that young people learn to read, write and count well, giving them the opportunity to do well after graduation.
Williams said she can offer fresh ideas and change up the mix on what is now the interim board. She is a proponent of putting well-trained volunteers in schools to help teachers and whose mere presence can reduce student discipline problems.
"A lot of people feel like you have to have a Ph.D. or be highly educated to be of service to your community as a school board member. That is not the case," Williams said.
"A school board is a team. Whereas I may not have a strong finance background, someone else will," Williams said. "But I've been a mother. I've been a substitute teacher. I've put hundreds of hours into volunteer time into the schools as my children were going through and even after. I'm used to dealing with children. I understand what the challenges are.
"We need people who think with their hearts, as well as their heads, and are in touch with the people who put them there," she said.
In Zone 1, Moss, a member of the interim board, said he wants to be elected because there is "unfinished business" in regard to formation of the district.
"I want to see things through. We've had about nine months to serve on the board and are just getting our feet wet. I'd like to continue the work we are doing. We now have architects and construction managers to help with the next phase of our school buildings. I want to keep everything going."
He cited his experience to date on the board, his work experience in the education field and his passion for Jacksonville as reasons to be elected.
Dornblaser, Moss' opponent, has lived in Jacksonville since 1966 and attended elementary, middle and high school in the city. She graduated from college and began her 36-year career as a dental hygienist in a Jacksonville clinic where she continues to work.
"I've never left Jacksonville," Dornblaser said. "The reason I feel so strongly about the School Board is because I've seen both sides of it. I know what it was like growing up in Jacksonville with great schools. I saw that change with my three kids."
In all of her time in Jacksonville, Dornblaser said, she has never seen a new school building. Meanwhile, new schools were constructed in Cabot and North Little Rock.
"I want to be on the School Board because it's of utmost importance to afford the children of today the same benefits in education I got. They deserve the best we can give them, not only the best teachers but also the best facilities."
She said the success of the district will propel the growth of the city.
Miles, the only candidate in Zone 2, is a member of the state-appointed interim board.
"I'm rooted in education. I have been working in education for more than 20 years," Miles said. "I have a passion for knowledge, and I love children. We need to be developing citizens for tomorrow," she said. "That's why I wanted to do this."
Moore, a candidate in Zone 3, said his knowledge of personnel management in a variety of businesses, including the U.S. Air Force, is a key qualification for his board membership.
"My goal on the board and working with the other board members would be to ensure that the new district has a world-class education," Moore said.
"We need good, modern facilities. We need outstanding teachers to instruct the students," he said, adding that the teachers should be well-paid commensurate with their education and experience.
"The superintendent and principals and board will be involved in that. The board won't recruit teachers. That's up to the superintendent and his staff to do that. Our job would be to accept those. With all my experience in human resources ... I'm pretty knowledgeable. I've been involved in hiring, firing, counseling and background checks.
"All of those things are important in having a good school system," Moore said.
Reichenbach, the father of five adult children, said his years of experience in working with schools in different capacities over time would be valuable to the new district.
"It's time for people who don't have kids in the system but who have experience with schools to run. That will ensure that the outcome is a student who is ready for college or ready for work," he said and added half-jokingly that Social Security payments to older Americans depend on that.
"I'm not one to beat my own back," Reichenbach said. "I am offering my name as an interested parent and grandparent to help out all I can."
Roper is a write-in candidate in the district's Zone 3.
Bryan Poe, director of elections for Pulaski County, said Friday that a vote for the write-in candidate is counted as long as the candidate's last name is written -- even if it is misspelled, abbreviated or has some other minor variation of the name.
"We wouldn't count it if it is only the candidate's first name or it is only the candidate's nickname or any other name that is not an authorized candidate," Poe said.
Roper said his four years of working as a substitute teacher, as well as being a Jacksonville High School graduate and a Jacksonville resident, have shown him some strengths and weaknesses.
"I'd like to help us step up our game and be relevant again," he said.
Roper said a proposed teacher salary schedule in the district can't be made permanent until more definite numbers are known about student enrollment in what is expected to be a 4,000-student district.
"I'm happy with the increase in starting salaries for incoming teachers, but I'm not happy with the cap that we've put on tenured teachers. Many will have to take a pay cut to continue working for us," Roper said. "I'm more of a mind to ... grandfather in their pay. They are just too valuable of a resource to suddenly cut their pay and risk losing them."
Watson, the only person running for the Zone 4 seat and a member of the interim board, said her now grown children traveled from Jacksonville to Parkview Arts and Sciences Magnet School in Little Rock to participate in the special academic programs at that school.
"Those are things that we didn't offer in Jacksonville," Watson said. "My hope for Jacksonville is to minimize that transport outside our city and give kids the same quality education here that my kids received at Parkview."
Watson also said she wants the new district to provide good service to Little Rock Air Force Base families.
"I know how that transition feels for those families moving here. You want to make sure you are sending your child to a great school that offers a quality education that is transferable anywhere. We want them to have a great experience as part of the Jacksonville community," she said.
SundayMonday on 09/13/2015