HOPE – Filing for the Sept. 20 election in the Hope Public School District closed July 12 with five candidates offering petitions for a place on the ballot, according to Hempstead County Clerk Sandra Rodgers’ office, signaling one retirement from board service.
Hope attorney Joe Short, currently serving as HPS Board President, will not seek re-election to the Zone 4 seat he has held since 1996. Short’s is the second-longest service on the school board.
Two candidates have filed for the Zone 4 position including Jimmy Courtney and Dee Godwin.
In Zone 6, incumbent trustee Denny Dickinson has filed for re-election, and Sylvia Brown has also filed for the position.
In Zone 7, Jesus Coronado, currently serving as board secretary, has filed for re-election. Coronado, a Hope Police Department criminal investigative division lieutenant, has served on the board since 2009.
The board voted in June to continue conducting its trustee elections in September, as opposed to consolidating with the November general election date, as allowed by a change in the law. The Sept. 20 elections will be conducted from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Hope school elections are typically consolidated at Hope Fair Park.
Absentee ballots are to be delivered to Rodgers’ office for mailing by Aug. 4, according to the Arkansas Department of Education.
Early voting begins Sept. 13 in the Hempstead County Clerk’s Office at the Hempstead County Courthouse, and concludes the day before the election.
