Hundreds of community members gathered at Kalahari Resorts and Conventions Oct. 25 to hear from candidates in the Nov. 8 Round Rock ISD board of trustees election in a public forum.

Hosted by the Round Rock ISD Council of PTAs, the Round Rock Chamber and the Austin Chamber of Commerce and moderated by Community Impact founder and CEO John Garrett, 13 of the candidates who will appear on the ballot in both the regular and special election responded to questions submitted by the community.

Four additional candidates will also appear on the ballot but did not attend the forum. Candidates Maryam Zafar and Joshua Billingsley, running for places 3 and 5, respectively, pulled out from their races since filing but will still appear on the ballot. Place 1 candidate Yuriy Semchyshyn and Place 5 candidate Stefan Bryant were not in attendance due to previous commitments.

Place 3

Orlando Salinas


Amber Feller

Maryam Zafar



Place 4


Linda Avila

Alicia Markum

Jill Farris

Cory Vessa




Place 5

Amy Weir

Stefan Bryant


Joshua Billingsley

Christie Slape



Place 6


Tiffanie Harrison

Donald Zimmerman



Place 1

John Keagy

Yuriy Semchyshyn

Kevin Johnson

Estevan Jesus “Chuy” Zarate