More than 30 people applied to serve on what will be the new Community Advisory Board for the state-controlled Little Rock School District.
Education Commissioner Johnny Key and the state Board of Education will select the committee with approval from the Arkansas Board of Education next month, drawing one member from each of the district's seven school board election zones.
Jeremy Owoh, assistant superintendent for the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District and a former Little Rock principal at J.A. Fair High, initially applied but withdrew from consideration from Zone 4. Dianna Harshfield, a retired teacher with 24 years' experience, most recently at J.A. Fair High, withdrew her application for the Zone 7 seat. A third applicant, Derick Brooks from Zone 6, did not attend the Education Board's work session Monday to hear presentations from the applicants, nor did he submit a prepared statement or a letter of withdrawal.
The applicants, by zone, are:
ZONE 1
• Chauncey Holloman, a small-business development coordinator for Little Rock.
• Gabe Holmstrom, executive director of the Downtown Little Rock Partnership.
• Norma Johnson, former Little Rock School Board member and permit technician for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
• Barclay Key, history professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a plaintiff in an unsuccessful lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court to restore local school board control in the Little Rock district.
• Joy Springer, former member of the School Board and a paralegal/education monitor for civil rights lawyer John Walker and a plaintiff in an ongoing federal lawsuit that in part challenges the state's 2015 takeover of the Little Rock district.
ZONE 2
• Maria Chavarria-Garcia, executive director of Education, Economic Opportunity and Healthy Futures.
• Robert Webb, owner of Webb Construction.
ZONE 3
• Christopher Burks, attorney at the Sanford Law Firm.
• Chandle Carpenter, special education teacher at Parkview High in the Little Rock district.
• Melanie Fox, owner of J&M Foods Inc., and former two-term member of the Little Rock School Board.
• Tippi McCullough, a 31-year teacher, currently working at Little Rock's Central High.
ZONE 4
• Greg Adams, social worker at Arkansas Children's Hospital, former Little Rock School Board member, and most recently co-chairman of the state-appointed Civic Advisory Committee for the Little Rock district.
• Mac Bell, director of communications and development for Easter Seals Arkansas.
• John Thomas Adams, attorney for Shults & Brown and adjunct professor at the W.H. Bowen School of Law.
• Mark Fortune, marketing consultant for Fortune Marketing, which he established in 2014.
• Eugene Levy, a retired rabbi and former member of the Civic Advisory Committee for the Little Rock district.
• Margaret Melissa Muse, a homemaker and mother.
• Jeff Wood, attorney and owner of the Wood Firm.
ZONE 5
• Tommy Branch, juvenile-detention center specialist for the state Department of Human Services' Division of Youth Services, a former appointed member to the Little Rock School Board and now chairman of the new Little Rock Area Public Education Stakeholder Group, which is to identify opportunities for cooperation among traditional schools and charter schools.
• Larry Clark, lead systems program for Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
• Barry Vuletich, an advocate and consultant for students with disabilities after spending his career working for rehabilitation and disability rights agencies, and a former candidate for the Little Rock School Board.
• John Wilkerson, an attorney for the Arkansas Municipal League who has served on the Little Rock School District Civic Advisory Committee.
ZONE 6
• Van Marq Golden, employed by the state Department of Human Services and a former member of the Civic Advisory Committee for the Little Rock district.
• Anthony Hampton, office manager for City Connections Inc., and minister of outreach/media for The City of Grace.
• Jesse Hargrove, associate professor of Spanish at Philander Smith College.
• Bruce Hill, semiretired, a paralegal at the Nickels Law Firm, previously worked for more than 30 years for the National Labor Relations Board.
ZONE 7
• Henry Brooks IV, a doctoral candidate in public policy at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, a substitute teacher and former vice president for institutional equity, trader/compliance specialist for Stephens Inc.
• Soreya DeGonzalez, executive director of Centro De Apoyo Hispano.
• Kandi Hughes, associate general counsel and compliance officer for the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
• Kenyon Lowe Sr., adjunct instructor, former candidate for the Little Rock School Board, member of the Little Rock City Housing Authority/ Metropolitan Housing Alliance.
• Freddie Scott, director of network operations for Exalt Education Inc., which is a charter school management organization.
Metro on 06/28/2016