Amarillo, Canyon ISD voters select trustees
Amarillo Independent School District and Canyon Independent School District voters selected leaders to serve on their school boards during Saturday's municipal election.
According to the cumulative unofficial vote count from both the Potter and Randall County elections office, Jon Mark Beilue, Steve Trafton and Connie Brown were elected to serve four-year terms on the AISD board of trustees.
Beilue, with the highest overall community votes receiving about 27.5 percent, spoke about why he decided to run and what it means for him to receive the highest number of votes by the community in the election.
"I decided to run because I realized the importance of a strong public education system, a strong school district. I am a product of one many years ago and saw what could happen when teachers and coaches pour themselves into myself and into other students," Beilue said.
Beilue, a former Globe-News sports journalist, said his life has been surrounded by teachers and the school district, with his mother serving her career as an English teacher and his wife a former AISD teacher. And with his children being raised in the district, he felt this was a way for him to give back.
"This school district and public education in general has given me a lot more than I have given back. So, I just want to try to serve the teachers and the students and the tax payers of this district. I think a school district is, in a way, the heartbeat of the community it kind of pulses forward generation after generation and I think it is important to all of us to make that heartbeat as strong as it can be," Beilue added.
After officially becoming a member of the board, Beilue hopes to support the district through assessing needs and soaking in information.
"We have a good school district and we have had a strong board. Now there are some issues I think - the one being the current curriculum, there seems to be mixed messages from the parents and the teachers as to the curriculum, but overall I think it has been effective," Beilue said.
Below are the final but unofficial elections results for the AISD and Canyon ISD races.
Potter County (sorted by unofficial total vote highest to lowest)
Jon Mark Beilue - 4,213; 23.38%Steve Trafton - 3,616; 20.07%Connie Brown - 2,690; 14.93%Robin Leeah - 2,401; 13.32%Dick Ford - 2,114; 11.73%Kimberly Anderson - 2,089; 11.59%Ryan Patrick Brown - 897; 4.98%
Randall County (sorted by unofficial total vote highest to lowest)
Jon Mark Beilue 7,266 27.46%Steve Trafton 5,676 21.45%Connie Brown 4,367 16.51%Kimberly Anderson 2,810 10.62%Dick Ford 2,785 10.53%Robin Leeah 2,605 9.85%Ryan Patrick Brown 947 3.58%
The cumulative votes for Potter and Randall Counties (sorted by unofficial total vote highest to lowest)Jon Mark Beilue - 11,479; 25.81%Steve Trafton - 9,292; 20.89%Connie Brown - 7,057; 15.87%Robin Leeah - 5,006; 11.26%Kimberly Anderson - 4,899; 11.01%Dick Ford - 4,899; 11.01%Ryan Patrick Brown - 1,844; 4.15%For the CISD board of trustees, four positions were up for election. Paul Blake was elected with 5,957 votes uncontested for CISD Board of Trustees Place 1, in place two Katharyn Wiegand was elected, Casey Posey for Place 3 and Laurie Gilliland for Place 7. Below are the unofficial total votes sorted from highest to lowest, according to the Randall County Elections Office.
Canyon Independent School District Board of Trustees, Place 2
Katharyn Wiegand - 3,514; 50.30%Jodi Davis - 3,472; 49.70%
Canyon Independent School District Board of Trustees, Place 3
Casey Posey - 2,671; 37.85%Jared Wirt - 2,121; 30.06%Claudia Burkett - 1,263; 17.90%Josh Grisham - 1,001; 14.19%
Canyon Independent School District Board of Trustees, Place 7
Laurie Gilliland - 2,974; 42.83%Tiffany Rogers - 2,791; 40.19%Derrick Thomas - 1,179; 16.98%
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo, Canyon ISD voters select trustees
