Two local school districts will not need school board elections, but competitive races will take place at West Platte and North Platte.
Here is a summary of the various situations now that the candidate filing deadline has passed.
Three candidates, two of them incumbents, filed for three open spots on the Platte County R-3 Board of Education. The ‘three candidates for three positions’ means the district will not need to hold a school board election.
Incumbents Sharon Sherwood and Buffy Smith filed for re-election. Newcomer Bobby Vann also filed. Gwendolyn Cooke, currently on the board, did not file for re-election.
Vicki Diggs, school board secretary, said:
“Since only three candidates have filed for three positions, there will be no election required, and accordingly, the board members who will be sworn in on April 16 at 5:30 p.m. will be Sharon Sherwood, Buffy Smith, and Bobby Vann.”
At Park Hill, the three incumbents–Janice Bolin, Bart Klein and Scott Monsees–were the only candidates to file for the three open spots, meaning Park Hill–like R-3–will not need to hold a school board election this year.
Five candidates filed for three open spots at West Platte R-2. They are Dr. Matthew A. Parker, Antonio John Cutolo-Ring (incumbent), Shane E. Bartee (incumbent), Ronald R. Rowe (incumbent), Dr. Phillip Pattison.
An election will be needed at the North Platte R-1 Board of Education, where there are four candidates for three open spots. Seats up for election this year are currently held by Bennett French, Kevin Vernon, and Stephanie Snook. Filing for the openings were incumbent Bennett French and newcomers Jeffrey Scott Hinton, Jennifer Hernandez and James Kubly.