Two vie for Fort Smith School Board seat

FORT SMITH — The School Board president has a challenger in the annual school election May 18.

Incumbent Bill Hanesworth and Matt Blaylock are competing for the board’s at-large, Position 4 seat. The winner will get a three-year term in the unpaid position.

Hanesworth has served in this seat since 2015. He’s been board president for about one year. Hanesworth, a former high school teacher, is the chief operating officer of the Littlefield Oil Co. in Fort Smith. He is a member of the Dean’s Leadership Council at the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith College of Business.

Blaylock is president of Blaylock Heating, Air Conditioning, & Plumbing Services in Fort Smith. He also serves on the city’s Plumbing Advisory Board.

Hanesworth said he originally ran for the board after hearing from others about how the School District had reportedly “fallen way behind in technology and infrastructure,” among other areas. He ran to find out what those people meant and be a part of the solution.

He would also like to see through to completion Vision 2023, the district’s five-year strategic plan that the board approved in 2017.

Fort Smith and Barling voters approved a property tax increase from 36.5 mills to 42 mills in May 2018 to fund projects in the Vision 2023 capital improvement program.

The additional millage — the district’s first increase in 31 years — generated about $120 million for capital improvements, including new, secure entries at schools.

Hanesworth said one of the issues on which he originally ran for the board was providing “a safe, secure learning environment for all students and teachers.”

He said he voted in favor of creating the district’s own police department, which launched in 2019. It consists of five, full-time certified police officers, one part-time officer and three additional officers provided by the Fort Smith Police Department. It is run by Bill Hollenbeck, a former Sebastian County sheriff.

Hanesworth also said the district needs to standardize its curriculum across grades and schools and review certain teaching methods.

“We also need to be mindful that there were many things that were learned during covid that can actually make us better going forward,” Hanesworth said. “The use of Zoom forced us to evaluate some other opportunities that we might do with virtual schooling kids.”

Hanesworth said his experiences in key management roles in different companies give him a broad perspective of how to evaluate strategies. His time on the board has included the hiring of two superintendents: Doug Brubaker in 2016 and Terry Morawski last year.

Blaylock said several decisions made by the board and district over the past few years prompted him to run. He declined to specify what the decisions were beyond that some dealt with personnel, while others were financial decisions with the millage. He believes some of the millage revenue that has gone toward construction projects has left the Fort Smith economy when it should have stayed there, he said.

To Blaylock, the board’s top three priorities should be the students, the faculty and staff, and good financial stewardship.

“I think sometimes that might be forgotten, and I think there’s some board people that think everybody underneath them works for them, where in all actuality, the board should be working for everybody else: the people they represent and the employees of the Fort Smith Public School District,” Blaylock said.

Blaylock said he has worked with the district for more than 20 years, including as a contractor and with the district’s Partners in Education Program, which connects its schools with businesses in the community, according to the district website. Having more participants in that program is important to Blaylock.

“To be honest, I think they could use those resources a lot more than they do,” he said. “I have tried to offer more assistance to them. It’s not always taken, the opportunities that have been given.”

“Simply stated, if you are happy with the direction of the Fort Smith Public Schools then you should vote for Mr. Hanesworth,” Blaylock said in an emailed statement. “If you’re not happy, then I’m your candidate. One thing I know for sure is, if nothing changes then nothing changes.”

Hanesworth has two children, one of whom is a ninth-grader in the district. Blaylock has two children — an 11th-grader and an eighth-grader — enrolled in the district.

Early voting for the election begins Tuesday.