Ron McDaniel and Marcia Dornblaser were the only people to file by Wednesday's deadline to be candidates for election May 21 to the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School Board.
Both are incumbent members of the board, elected in September 2015 as part of the new district's first elected board.
McDaniel, the board's president, holds one of two at-large positions on the board, meaning that all residents in the district can vote for candidates for that seat. Dornblaser represents the district's Zone 1, which encompasses the northern half of the district.
Both are seeing re-election as the district is replacing all of its campus buildings. The district is obligated as a party in a federal school desegregation lawsuit to make its aging campuses comparable to new, more modern schools in the neighboring Pulaski County Special district.
A new elementary school opened this school year in the Jacksonville district. A new high school campus will open in August. Another new elementary and a middle school are in the planning stages, and two additional elementaries are planned for later years.
McDaniel, 66, was a member of the state-appointed interim board for the new school district before his September 2015 election to the board. He is a retired colonel and commander of the 189th Maintenance Group, Arkansas Air National Guard at Little Rock Air Force Base.
Dornblaser, 61, is a longtime Jacksonville resident and a dental hygienist.
In Pulaski County, only the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District has opted to participate in May 21 elections.
Arkansas lawmakers before 2018 did away with the singular annual September school elections and authorized school boards to choose to hold their elections in either May or November. In even-numbered years, the elections are held at the same time as the political party primary election in May or the general election in November.
In Pulaski County, the North Little Rock, Pulaski County Special and Little Rock districts hold board elections and/or property tax referendums in November.
The terms are for four years and are unpaid.
Metro on 02/21/2019