A check of the election results on the AJC website shows another school board close election in Decatur, with Lewis Jones receiving 793 votes to Mark Arnold’s 718 votes.

Commissioners Boykin and Garrett were automatically re-elected, along with a School Board member Bernadette Seals.  Annie P. Caiola won Valarie Wilson’s seat on the Decatur School Board as well in an uncontested race.

Decaturish has reaction from Mr. Arnold and a more exhaustive recap this evening.

Time to get to the voting booths!  If you don’t know where to go to vote, CLICK HERE.

There’s only one contested race this November – for the School Board District 1 Post A seat.  Here are brief candidate summaries…

• Mark Arnold – a financial and banking expert and former member of the Renfroe School Leadership Team with notable endorsements from School Board member and Fmr. School Board Chair Valerie Wilson, Fmr. Mayor Elizabeth Wilson, and Gary Garrett.  (Here are links to Mr. Arnold’s bio and list of supporters).
• Lewis Jones – an environmental lawyer and Chair of the Renfroe School Leadership Team, with notable endorsements from School Board Chair Marc Wisniewski, Fmr. Mayor Bill Floyd, and County Commissioner Kathie Gannon. (Here are links to Mr. Jones’ bio and list of supporters).

Go vote!

There’s only one contested race in Decatur this year: Decatur Board of Education District 1 Post A.

Everyone else up for election is running unopposed.

So, before you cast your electronic ballots on the morrow, check out Mark Arnold and Lewis Jones’ webpages.  And on a more topical front, you can also check out this recent post on Decaturish, where the candidates are asked their position on the K-3 rezoning process currently underway.

Interested in checking out the unopposed candidates webpages?  I know you are. Well, here are those links as well.

Decatur City Commission

• Fred Boykin
• Patti Garrett

Decatur Board of Education

• Annie Caiola

Decaturish has done us all a favor and taped and posted video from last night’s School Board candidates forum.  Candidates Mark Arnold, Lewis Jones and unopposed candidate Annie Caiola were all in attendance.

Check it out HERE!

Lewis Jones is running for the District 1 seat, being vacated by Marc Wisnewski.  He asked that we pass along this note, which is also up on his website…

I am running because I want to help the Superintendent make Decatur one of the top ten community school districts in the nation.  I hope to strengthen School Leadership Teams, improve community outreach, promote arts and music, and establish value-added performance standards to ensure that our schools are working as hard as our children.  I also want to help manage the master planning process to ensure it does not distract us from the academic program.

With five kids in the system, I am totally committed to the City schools, and our own experience has been terrific.  As Chair of the School Leadership Team at Renfroe Middle School, I know that we’re doing a great job already, but I also think there’s more to be done to get us to the next level.

If you have any questions please call.   Thank you!  Lewis Jones , cell; , office)