Five candidates file for school board

— There won’t be much competition in the Sept. 21 school board elections. Five candidates filed for four of the five school board positions in Decatur, leaving one position - Zone 3 - wide open.

Two candidates - Ikie Owens and Gracia Harrington - have filed to run for Zone 5. Candidates from Zone 1, 2, and 4 will run uncontested unless someone steps in as a write-in candidate by noon today.

In July of 2008 the fate of the Decatur School District was uncertain. The district faced fiscal distress, state control and, even worse, possible annexation into a neighboring district.

On July 31, 2008, the Arkansas State Board of Education voted to take control of the school on a probationary status. Almost two years to the day later, the district is reconstituted and potential candidates have filed petitions to run for school board.

In 2008 the community rallied around the school, holding fundraisers and car washes to “save our school.” Between generous donors and fundraisers the community provided more than $250,000 to give the district a financial boost.

But now that the crisis has past and things are back to business as usual, community interest has dwindled. Only three people attended the July 17 school town hall meeting, including superintendent Larry Ben, a school board candidate and the Decatur Herald reporter.

Enrollment is also dwindling. In 2007, the school ended the year with 600 students. That dropped to 582 students at the end of 2008 and 487 at the end of 2009. Last year the district ended the year with 463 students, according to former superintendent LeRoy Ortman.

Ortman got the school back on solid financial ground before he retired in June. The district had more than $1 million in its general fund last May. Now that Ben is in charge, he is focusing on increasing student academic achievement.

“My goal is restoring the confidence of the parents and people in the community,” he told the Benton County Daily Record last week. But Ben will need a strong team behind him to achieve those goals.

Write-in candidates have until noon today to file for the election. If no one files from Zone 3, the other school board members will appoint someone to fillthe position, according to Gayle Marris, of the Arkansas Department of Education.

Zone 3 includes the area north and east of Decatur, as well as a significant part of the city. It is bounded by Arkansas Highway 102 on its southern edge and Highway 102 W and Mount Olive Road on its western edge.

School board members usually serve five-year terms and positions are up for election on rotating years, according to Benton County Clerk Tena O’Brien. Because all five positions will be elected at once in Decatur’s situation, school board members will draw lots at their first meeting to see how long they will serve. One will serve a one-year term, one will serve a two-year term, and another a three-year term, a fouryear term and a five-year term, O’Brien explained.

Decatur School Board Candidates Zone 1 - Justin Thompson Zone 2 - Aaron Owens Zone 3 - Open Zone 4 - Darleen Holly Zone 5 - Gracia Harrington and Ikie Owens Source: The Benton County Clerk’s Office

News, Pages 1 on 07/28/2010