Smackover-Norphlet School Board elects new officers

The Smackover-Norphlet School Board met at the SNSD central office on Monday, July 19, for their regular monthly meeting.

The first action item on the agenda was the election of new board officers.

In the county-wide school board election held in May, board member Cliff Preston was the only SNSD school board member up for re-election. Preston ran unopposed and was re-elected to the position, meaning that no changes were made to the personnel on the school board in that election.

Before Monday’s officer election, the school board’s officers were Joe Bates, as president; Lynn Birchfield, as vice president; Chris Long, as legislative liaison; and Don

Thomas, as secretary.

Bates was unable to attend Monday’s meeting; all other board members were present.

Long led the nomination process, nominating Damon Goodwin for president.

Preston nominated Bates to continue as president.

“The whole time I’ve been here

we’ve kept it the way it is. I think [Bates] does a good job and has time to be here. I wouldn’t want to be president because of my schedule… I’m more of a ‘keep it the same way’ [person],” Preston said.

Brief discussion followed the nominations.

Due in part to Bates’ absence, both nominations died as motions with three to three tie votes.

Following the tied votes, Preston nominated Birchfield as president. Birchfield was then elected unanimously.

Preston next nominated Goodwin for the vice president position. Goodwin was also elected unanimously.

For the secretary position, Preston nominated Thomas. The motion passed unanimously and Thomas was re-elected to the position.

For the legislative liaison position, Preston nominated Long. Long was unanimously re-elected to the position.