Three candidates enter LR School Board race on first day of filing
Three people filed to be a candidate in the Nov. 3 election for the Little Rock School Board on Monday, the opening day of the filing period.
They include the chairman of the Little Rock Community Advisory Board and the former Little Rock School Board president who was in office in 2015 when the state took over the Little Rock School District.
The candidates who filed Monday are:
■ Greg Adams, Zone 8. Adams, program coordinator for the Center for Good Mourning and Staff Bereavement Support, was the 2015 School Board president.
■ Benjamin R. Coleman Jr., Zone 8.
■ Jeff Wood, Zone 9. Wood is the chairman of the district’s community advisory board, which makes recommendations to the state’s education secretary and otherwise serves as a liaison between the Little Rock School District and the state. He runs a legal practice.
Zones 8 and 9 are in parts of northwest Little Rock.
Adams and Wood had said earlier this year they planned to run for the nine-member School Board.
The Little Rock School District has been operating without an elected board since January 2015 when the state Board of Education took control of the district because six of its then 48 schools were classified as academically distressed for chronically low student test scores.
The state board late last year voted to return the district — with limitations — to the governance of a nine-member elected board. In anticipation of an upcoming election, Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key called for the new school
board election zones. In consultation with the district’s Community Advisory Board, Key approved those new zone boundary lines in February.
No candidates have filed and had petitions verified Monday for seats on the North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school boards, according to the Pulaski County circuit/ county clerk’s office. The Jacksonville/North Pulaski School Board had its election in the spring.
Candidates are required to submit a petition, political practices pledge and an affidavit of eligibility with the county clerk.
The school board filing period runs through Aug. 3, ending at noon. On the weekdays between the start and closing of the filing period, the hours are from 8 a.m.–4 p.m. Filing will take place at the Pulaski County Courthouse, 401 West Markham Street, Little Rock. Candidates should use only the Spring Street entrance for access to the building.
Early voting begins Oct. 19. The election is Nov. 3.