By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
With the filing period for the Sept. 21 school board elections closed, challengers seek to unseat two opponents of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers who are up for re-election, while at school districts in Lonoke County and at Beebe, incumbents face no challenge.
That could change, because write-in candidates can file through noon Wednesday.
In Pulaski County Special School District, Zone 5 board member Danny Gilliland is being challenged by Tom Stuthard, and Zone 5 board member Charlie Wood faces a challenge from Gloria Lawrence.
Both incumbents are outspoken opponents of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers and have sought to bar the union from negotiating teacher contracts.
Lawrence, a longtime district teacher and PACT member, said she retired last year and was moved to run by the board’s efforts to decertify the union as the teachers negotiating agent.
Stuthard doesn’t have a listed telephone number, but a PACT-friendly website describes him as a postal worker, retired Air Force and married to a Sylvan Hills math teacher.
In the Cabot School District, incumbent Wendell J. Msall Jr. is without opposition for his Position 4 seat.
Mark Russell has filed for the Position 3 seat he currently holds.
Although the standard term length is five years, Russell is running for a two-year term. Last year, he replaced Brooks Nash who died and now he has to run for election to complete the last two years of Nash’s term.
In Beebe, Lucy Mahoney has filed for re-election to her Position 4 seat.
In Lonoke, Chris James filed for the Zone 2 seat he currently holds. Darrell Park has filed for re-election in Zone 3.
Despite redrawing Zone 4, no one filed for the seat held by Kevin McKenzie, who can’t run for re-election because he now lives in Zone 2.
However, if no one runs for the position, McKenzie can continue to serve. That’s been the case for the past year.
In Carlisle, Cliff Schafer is running unopposed in Zone 7 and Bryan Oliger will run unopposed for the Zone 1, Position 1 seat.
In England, Linda Solee Tucker will run unopposed in Zone 2.
