What happened
According to NEISD officials, the following residents applied to run for one of four school board positions:
- District 1: Michael Gurwitz and Lisa Thompson
- District 4: David Beyer and Jack Hoyle
- District 5: Melinda Cox, Chris Evans and Dick Rasmussen
- District 6: Terri Chidgey and Steve Hilliard
Through March 4, NEISD officials are still accepting applications for the District 2 board seat, where a vacancy was created by the death of trustee Terri Williams.
Since Williams’ death, the remaining six school board members in recent months had been divided on how to fill the District 2 vacancy.
Several residents filed and interviewed for the District 2 spot only to fail to draw a majority approval from voting trustees in recent board meetings.
Aubrey Chancellor, the district’s executive director of communications, said that nobody filed for the empty District 2 seat by late Feb. 16.
Dig deeper
There will be no contested elections in the cities of Hill Country Village, Hollywood Park or Shavano Park or Alamo Colleges District or Trinity Glen Rose Groundwater Conservation District on May 4.
In Hill Country Village, Mayor Gabriel Durand-Hollis and council members Matthew Acock and Greg Blasko filed for re-election and drew no opposition.
In Hollywood Park, council member Chester Drash appears to be taking over as mayor as incumbent Mayor Sean Moore did not file for re-election. Two other council members—Todd Kounse and Wendy Gonzalez—each filed for a second term with no challengers.
In Shavano Park, only incumbents Maggi Kautz, Konrad Kuykendall and Lee Powers filed for a spot on Shavano Park’s at-large City Council.
But Shavano Park voters will be asked to reauthorize a one-fourth of 1% sales tax allocation to continue funding the city’s crime control and prevention district.
In the Alamo Colleges District, school board seats representing Districts 5, 6 and 7 are up for election this year, but only District 6 has a contested race. In District 7, incumbent trustee Yvonne Katz was the lone candidate to apply for the seat.