School board elections are more than three months away, but those interested in running for an open seat may begin to circulate petitions now.
A total of 22 school board seats across the 15 school districts of Benton and Washington counties -- at least one seat in each district -- are up for election this year.
School board elections
The following is a list of seats on each Northwest Arkansas school district’s board of education that are up for election this year and the term length the election winner will receive. The current occupant of each seat is listed in parentheses.
Bentonville
Zone 3, five years (Grant Lightle)
Zone 7, five years (Joe Quinn)
Decatur
Zone 1, five years (Amy Brooks)
Zone 2, four years unexpired (Aaron Owens)
Elkins
Position 4, five years (Bob Warren)
Farmington
Position 4, five years (Amy Hill)
Fayetteville
Zone 1, five years (Stephen Percival)
At-large Position 1, five years (Nika Waitsman)
Gentry
Zone 2, five years (Dani Cypert)
Gravette
Position 5, five years (Jim Singleton)
Position 6, five years (Susan Santos)
Greenland
Zone 6, five years (Terry Reed)
Zone 7, three years (Deborah Crown)
Lincoln
Zone 5, two years (Connie Meyer)
Pea Ridge
Position 1, five years (Jennifer R. Wood)
Prairie Grove
Position 7, five years (Shawn Shrum)
Rogers
At-large Position 6, five years (Byron Black)
At-large Position 7, five years (Lisa Anderson)
Siloam Springs
Zone 2, five years (Chuck Hyde)
Zone 3, two years (Audra Farrell)
Springdale
Zone 1, five years (Kevin Ownbey)
West Fork
Position 4, five years (Owen McAdoo)
Source: Staff report
Candidates may file petitions and other related paperwork with their county clerk starting July 5. The deadline to file is noon July 12.
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.
School board elections are scheduled for Sept. 20. Here's a preview of what seats are available in the region's biggest school districts and what the incumbents in each case plan to do, if they've decided.
Bentonville
Seats belonging to Grant Lightle and Joe Quinn are up for election.
Lightle was one of five candidates for the Zone 3 position in 2012. He won a runoff election against incumbent Kim Mertes.
Lightle, an attorney for Wal-Mart, said last week he's unsure whether he'll run for a second term, saying he must weigh the needs of his family and his job.
Lightle frequently has been the most vocal critic of some proposals presented by School District administrators. He's also been known to raise concerns about the district's budget.
He also has stirred controversy. Last year he recommended the district alter its employment policy to explicitly forbid discrimination against employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity, setting off a monthslong debate within the community. The board eventually rejected the suggestion by a 4-2 vote.
Quinn is the board's newest member. Board members picked him in September to fill the Zone 7 seat left vacant following the resignation of Wendi Cheatham. He was one of seven people the board interviewed for the position.
Quinn, senior director of public affairs and government relations for Wal-Mart, intends to run for re-election. He said he believes he has given a stronger voice to parents in his zone, which covers most of the south and southwest portions of the district and includes parts of the cities of Bentonville, Centerton, Rogers, Highfill and Cave Springs.
"I have pushed hard to make the board more transparent, and to do a better job communicating with busy parents," he wrote in an email.
Fayetteville
Two seats are up for election -- the Zone 1 seat occupied by Steve Percival and the At-Large Position 1 seat held by Nika Waitsman.
Percival, after 21 years on the board, said he will not run for re-election. Waitsman, who was appointed in October after the resignation of former board member Jim Halsell, will run for the Zone 1 seat instead of the at-large position, she said.
Percival, whose three children graduated from Fayetteville High School between 1994 and 2008, knows of many talented, "good thinkers" who care about the district. He decided it was time for someone else to represent Zone 1.
Percival is vice president of human resources at Washington Regional Medical Center. He has watched Fayetteville grow from a district trying to find its place and purpose into one he thinks has become a powerful force in educating children, he said.
Percival sought to make decisions by considering what was best for the long-term growth of the district, rather than how decisions affected any one student or teacher, he said.
"It's more about helping set policy and strategy and support and staying away from getting into the micromanaging of the district," Percival said. "It is very hard. You get a lot of phone calls, emails (from people) who want you to do just that."
Waitsman chose to run for Zone 1 because she wants to represent residents who are her neighbors and parents whose children have attended the same schools as her three children.
The past seven months have given her a clearer understanding of the issues and opportunities facing the district, she said. She looks forward to implementing strategies set through the Framing Our Future comprehensive planning process and to working with incoming Superintendent Matthew Wendt.
"It's an exciting time for the district," she said. "I get to be involved in the decision-making about a part of our community I really, really care about."
As a newcomer to the board, Waitsman feels an obligation to express concerns and ask some "stupid" questions because she knows other people want those questions asked, she said.
Rogers
Both seats up for election are at-large positions, meaning anyone from the district may run for one of them.
Incumbent Byron Black already decided he won't run again.
"I have thoroughly enjoyed my nine-plus years on the board," said Black, who holds the at-large 6 seat. "I have been fortunate to work with some really great people on the board and, of course, a great superintendent and administrators. It has been a rewarding experience."
Black, an owner of the Rogers sporting goods store Best Sports, defeated incumbent Gloria Hopper in 2006. A write-in candidate was his only competition when he easily won re-election in 2011.
The other expiring seat belongs to Lisa Anderson, the board's vice president. Anderson said she's still unsure whether she'll run again.
"There's a lot of change going on," Anderson said. "So on one hand I think stability would be a good thing, but the older I get and the further away I get from having kids in the school system, the harder it is to stay engaged."
Anderson's youngest child graduated from the school system in 2012.
"You can be a little more objective when you don't have kids in the district. But I also think it's important to have kids in the district because you're living it. There are pluses and minuses both ways. Regardless of what I do, I think the future is really bright for Rogers Public Schools," she said.
Anderson works at Northwest Arkansas Community College. She beat two opponents to win her first term in 2011. Her husband, Keven Anderson, is a former state legislator and now a board member at the college.
Siloam Springs
The two board members whose seats are up for election both said they intend to run again.
Chuck Hyde, the Zone 2 representative, will seek his second term. He has two children in the district.
"I absolutely love it," he said about serving on the board.
Audra Farrell, human resources manager for La-Z-Boy Arkansas and the Zone 3 representative, said she'll run this fall as well.
Farrell was one of five people who applied for the board seat left vacant following the death of her father, Louie Thomas, who had served on the board since 2001. Thomas died in December. The board appointed Farrell to the seat in January.
Farrell is running to serve the remaining two years of a five-year term her father earned in 2013. School board appointees must stand for election at the next annual board election if they wish to retain their seat.
Springdale
The Zone 1 seat is the only one up for election this year. Incumbent Kevin Ownbey said he intends to run for a second term. Ownbey is the board's secretary-treasurer.
Ownbey received 53 percent of the vote in a three-way race in 2011. He replaced Jim Bradford, who opted not to seek re-election that year.
Zone 1 covers most of the southwest portion of the district.
Dave Perozek can be reached at dperozek@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWADaveP. Brenda Bernet can be reached by email at bbernet@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWABrenda.
NW News on 06/12/2016