Voters in the Pulaski County Special School District elected seven board members from among 14 candidates Tuesday in the district’s first election since September 2010.
Shannon Hills Mayor Mike Kemp from the district’s Zone 1 and Alicia Gillen from the district’s Zone 5 in the Maumelle area won their seats in uncontested elections. Renee Ward, Linda Remele, Shelby Thomas, Eli Keller and Brian Maune won their contested races for the School Board in the 12,200-student district that is exiting state control. It was initially taken over for being in fiscal distress.
Thomas and Maune were in three-man races but won with more than 50 percent of the vote and are able to avoid runoff elections.
Jerry Guess, superintendent of the Pulaski County Special district, said late Tuesday that he was pleased with the outcome.
"These are people who were very involved in the district and who wanted to be involved in the new PCSSD," Guess said. "It's encouraging that this pool of candidates sought to be able to serve the kids of the district, and we are excited about working with the people who appear likely to be the winners.
"A new day has dawned on PCSSD," he added.
With 137 out of 137 precincts reporting, complete but unofficial returns were:
Zone 2
Tina Renee Ward 2,643
Mildred Tatum 2,393
Zone 3
Linda Remele 4,365
Gloria Lawrence 2,704
Zone 4
Shelby Thomas 2,939
Cori Burgett Fetters 1,656
Leonard Smith 1,082
Zone 6
Eli Keller 4,689
Samuel Branch 2,249
Zone 7
Brian Maune 4,308
James "Jim" R. Jolley 1,281
Julian N. McMurray 1,642
The district's 40.7-mill property tax rate was also on the ballot as required by law even though no change in the rate was proposed. While there is no change, the annual vote on the tax is considered a gauge on public support of the school system.
Against 27,178
For 22,781
Kemp, 59, in Zone 1 is a reporter/anchor for the Arkansas Radio Network and KARN, AM 920, and 102.9 FM.
Ward, 48, who is a human resources generalist for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, won the race from the east and southeastern part of the district that Tatum, 76, previously represented as a 29-year board member before the board was dissolved.
Ward was the only one of the four candidates endorsed by the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers for the board seats to win her election.
In Zone 3, Remele, 65, is a retired teacher, principal and deputy superintendent in the district and is currently a member of the district's state-appointed Community Advisory Board. She attributed her success over retired teacher and former School Board member Lawrence to support from teachers, as well as city, community leaders and business leaders.
"I feel thrilled to win the election and I'm ready to go to work. I think that everybody that won is very committed to making sure Pulaski County Special is very successful and never goes back into fiscal distress," she said.
In Zone 4, Thomas, 45, is an energy specialist for Irby Electrical Distributors and also a member of the Community Advisory Board. He attributed his success in the election to "old fashioned door-knocking."
"I'm looking forward to us starting over with some fresh blood and getting a redo and making us number one like we were in the past," he said.
Smith, 41, is a contract compliance and small business manager for the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field. Fetters, 52, a homemaker and former owner of a craft store, was endorsed by the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers.
Gillen, 39, the unopposed candidate for the Zone 5 position representing part of Maumelle, is the executive director of the Maumelle Area Chamber of Commerce.
In Zone 6, Keller, 39, a Maumelle police officer and head of the agency's school resource officer program, won the seat over Branch, 67, a retired educator and now a real estate agent.
"I'm looking forward to the board training and jumping in feet first," Keller said.
In Zone 7, Maune, 35, an account manager for ChemTreat and a member of the Community Advisory Board, won over McMurray, 39, a chiropractor and a former member of the district's Community Advisory Board, and Jolley, 55, is an administrator of the Arkansas Forestry Commission.
The Pulaski County School District has been operating under state control with a state-appointed superintendent and no elected school board since June 2011 because of financial mismanagement and spending practices that jeopardized the district's solvency.
The State Board of Education -- at the recommendation of Arkansas Department of Education staff -- in March determined that the district has corrected its financial problems and could be returned to local control once a school board is elected and trained.
Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key directed that the elections for school board members in both the Pulaski County Special and Helena-West Helena school districts be held on Nov. 8 in conjunction with the general election, rather than in September when school board elections are traditionally held.
Training for the new board members will be done Dec. 10 and the first board meeting is scheduled for Dec. 13.
School Board positions in Arkansas are unpaid. Term lengths vary from district to district. Pulaski County Special district policy states that the length of board terms are for four years. The newly elected board members are expected, upon being sworn into office, to draw for staggered term lengths so that all board positions will not be up for election in one year.
The newly elected board will set policy for a 12,200-student district that is nearly 4,000-students smaller and 100 square miles smaller in territory than when the district was taken over by the state in 2011.
The changes are largely the result of the detachment of the new Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District.
One of the initial challenges of the newly elected board will be to help oversee the loss of $20.7 million a year in state desegregation aid after the 2017-18 school year.
The campaign contributions reported by the candidates as of the most recent Nov. 1 reporting deadline jumped from no reported contributions by Tatum, Ward, Lawrence, Fetters, Smith, Branch and Jolley to thousands of dollars in contributions for Remele, Thomas, Keller, as well as for McMurray and Maune who were vying for same seat.
Remele reported campaign contributions of $19,525. Thomas reported total monetary contributions of $11,900. Keller had contributions of $18,400 for the reporting period. In Zone 7, Maune reported $13,481 in contributions and $750 in loans and $997 in non-monetary contributions. McMurray received total contributions of $8,200.
Metro on 11/09/2016