Schell Seeks County Commission Seat

Small business owner Leslie Schell, who sought a School Board seat last year when Shannon Dunn resigned, is now planning a run for County Commission.

Schell, who has four children in Sumner County Schools, was passed over by the County Commission for an open School Board seat in August.  The Commission instead chose Janet Arnold, a close ally of Commissioner Jerry Stone.

Schell will be running in District 4, a seat with only one incumbent seeking re-election.  Current Commissioner Joe Matthews is seeking a Court Clerk position.  That leaves Frank Freels as the lone incumbent in the race to face Schell and Bubba Angell, who has also indicated his candidacy.

Schell gained community support by actively seeking the School Board seat and attending a community forum to discuss her views.  She now says she believes she can have the biggest impact on schools by being a pro-schools advocate on the County Commission.

14 Commissioners Vote for Janet Arnold for School Board

At last night's Sumner County Commission meeting, 14 County Commissioners voted in favor of appointing Janet Arnold to replace Shannon Dunn on the Sumner County School Board in District 5. 

9 speakers addressed the Commission before the vote.  8 of the 9 spoke in favor of candidate Leslie Schell.  Supporters spoke of her involvement in schools (4 children at Beech Elementary, serves a substitute teacher, on the PTO Board) and her engagement in the community. 

Additionally 15 or so audience members wore "Schell for School Board" shirts. 

While Schell attended a forum hosted by grassroots organization Strong Schools, Arnold did not.  Schell also attended a meet and greet hosted by the Mayor of Goodlettsville and two City Commissioners.  Arnold also opted not to attend. 

Both candidates were given a survey of questions from parents developed by Strong Schools.  Schell answered the survey and Arnold did not.

Both Schell and Arnold addressed the full Commission and Schell presented Commissioners with a petition of 350 supporters asking for her to be appointed. 

Once the vote was called, 14 Commissioners voted in favor of Arnold to only 10 for Schell.  No Commissioner spoke on behalf of Arnold or offered a public explanation of their vote.

The 14 voting in favor of Arnold were:

Hyde, Matthews, Skidmore, Paul Freels, Moser, Vaughn, Pospisil, Stone, Frank Freels, Satterfield, Taylor, Akins, Geminden, and Graves.

These are the same 14 that voted time and again last year against a fully-funded school budget. 

School Board Member Appointment Tonight

The Sumner County Commission is meeting at 6PM tonight in a special called meeting for the sole purpose of appointing someone to fill the vacant District 5 School Board seat. 

The meeting will be held at the County Administration Building in Gallatin.

So far, only two candidates have submitted resumes -- Leslie Schell and Janet Arnold. 

Schell currently has 4 children attending Beech Elementary. 

Arnold's children, now adults, did not attend Sumner County Schools and Arnold has not attended recent public events designed to inform the public on the candidates.  She skipped a candidate forum on August 12 and last week failed to attend a meet-and-greet hosted by the Mayor of Goodlettsville and two City Commissioners. 

While Schell has answered survey questions from local grassroots group Strong Schools, Arnold has refused to do so.

On a related note, some suspect that certain members of the Commission may nominate a third, so far unknown, person to fill the vacancy. 

County Commission Meets Tonight

The Sumner County Commission will meet tonight at 7 PM at the County Administration Building in Gallatin.  The agenda includes relatively routine items -- and, due to a notice mix-up, does NOT include the appointment of a new School Board member for the vacant District 5 seat.

However, just before the full Commission meets, the Committee on Committees will meet to discuss applicants for the vacancy. To date, only Janet Arnold and Leslie Schell have submitted information to the Committee.

The final decision on filling the vacancy will come on Monday, August 26th at 6 PM in Gallatin.

Jerry Stone's Candidate List

So, the Star News has this story about the vacancy in School Board District 5 from Shannon Dunn's resignation. In the story, County Commissioner Jerry Stone indicates he has been compiling a list of candidates to run for School Board in 2014 -- ostensibly, candidates who line up with his views about schools. 

In this case, he noted he'll be recommending Janet Arnold, because, "she shares his views, both fiscally and socially.."

The comments and the existence of Stone's List cause some to wonder who else Stone may be recruiting across the County to run for School Board or other office.  What is the criteria for making Stone's List?

One thing is certain, Stone is no fan of the grassroots organization Strong Schools.  Stone reportedly told one district voter that he wasn't interested in the views of Strong Schools in terms of who might be appointed to this seat.

Janet's Not Talking

The article noted that two individuals, Janet Arnold (Stone's hand-picked candidate) and Leslie Schell (a mom with 4 kids in Sumner County Schools) have expressed interest in the appointment.  While Schell participated in a candidate forum held Monday in Hendersonville and has answered a list of 15 questions submitted by Strong Schools, Arnold did not attend the forum and said in the article (regarding the Strong Schools survey) that she  "no plan to complete their questionnaire at the moment."



The County Commission has called the meeting to select the replacement Board member for August 26th at 6:00 PM at the County Administration Building in Gallatin. 



 

New Board Member to be Appointed on August 26th

Despite earlier discussion that the appointment of a new School Board member to replace District 5 member Shannon Dunn could come as early as August 19th, the County Executive issued a special call today setting the meeting for August 26th at 6:00 PM.  At that time, Commissioners will select a candidate to replace Dunn for the remainder of her term, which expires in August of 2014. 

So far, both Janet Arnold and Leslie Schell have expressed interest in the seat.  Anyone else who wishes to nominate a candidate or be considered should contact their County Commissioner. 

Strong Schools Holds Candidate Forum

From the Press Release:

Last night, grassroots advocacy organization Strong Schools held a forum for candidates interested in the District 5 School Board seat recently vacated by the resignation of Shannon Dunn.

 

Both Janet Arnold and Leslie Schell indicated interest in the seat and both were invited to participate. Ms. Arnold declined the invitation citing a scheduling conflict. 

 

Schell attended and was asked 15 questions that had been crafted by members of the Strong Schools community. 

 

The replacement for Dunn will be voted on by the County Commission on August 19th and will fill the remainder of Dunn's terms, which expires in August, 2014. 

 

Five County Commissioners attended the event, including David Kimbrough, Paul Decker, Paul Goode, Paige Brown Strong, and Michael Guthrie. 

 

The event's organizers arranged for live-streaming of the event via the StrongSchools.org website and have also emailed and mailed the survey questions to allow both candidates the opportunity to submit written responses ahead of the Commission vote. 

 

Strong Schools Director Andy Spears said, "We organized this event because we believe in transparency.  We want every member of the community to have a chance to hear from those who wish to serve on the School Board.  We're pleased that a number of County Commissioners came out to hear directly from the candidates. We'll also follow up with a written survey so the Commissioners and community members can see what these two interested individuals have to say about our schools."

School Board Candidate Forum - TONIGHT

Grassroots advocacy group Strong Schools is hosting a forum tonight for the two candidates who have expressed interest in filling the District 5 seat recently vacated by the resignation of Shannon Dunn.  The forum will be held at 7PM at Hendersonville City Hall and is open to the public.  Both Leslie Schell and Janet Arnold have expressed interest in the seat and both have been invited to participate in the forum, according to organizers.