ATHENS COUNTY, Ohio — Three Athens County school board races were contested this year, including two districts coming off a tumultuous year.
All figures below are based upon unofficial results from the Athens County Board of Elections.
Federal Hocking Local School District
Six candidates ran for three full terms in the Federal Hocking Local School District; an additional two candidates sought one vacated seat.
Candidates Mary Mitchell, Gem S. Stone and Angela R. Williams defeated incumbent Sara Brumfield and challengers Ronda Clark and Jeremy Miller.
Mitchell received around 22% of the votes, or 709 total. Williams received 643 votes, or around 20%. Stone received around 18% of the vote, or 574 votes total.
“I feel very fortunate to have the people of the district support me and support the people who won,” Mitchell said. “I think we’re going to have a very good board of education.”
Mitchell said her first priority going into the office would be securing a permanent superintendent who “really cares about our school district.” She also noted that there is now upcoming turnover within the board, and is hopeful its members will work together so “we can create the positive things that we want to see happen in the district.”
Stone told the Independent in an email, “I’m just glad to have been elected and looking forward to hitting the ground running by engaging with the other members and with the current superintendent to understand the work they have been doing.”
The Independent could not reach Williams for comment prior to publication.
Current board member Aaron Tate defeated challenger Kizzi Elmore-Clark with 53% of votes, or 725 total, for an unexpired term ending in 2027.
Trimble Local School District
Four people ran for three seats on Trimble’s board of education. Challenger Carl Fouts received 35% of votes, or 655 total.
Voters reelected incumbent John Standley, who received around 27% of the vote, or 494 total. Voters also reelected incumbent board President Gary Arnold, who received 20% of the vote or 375 votes total.
“We got our levy passed, so now we just have to keep moving forward, get us a new superintendent,” Arnold said. “I just want to finish what we started.”
Standley echoed Arnold’s comments and said he’d like to “stay the course” as the district navigates its fiscal emergency. He said the passage of the district’s earned income tax made him optimistic about the district’s recovery, and that he looks forward to working with new members of the board. He also served on the board during the district’s first fiscal emergency in the 2000s.
Fouts could not be reached prior to publication.
Incumbent Vice President Kevin Coey was not reelected. He received around 17% votes, or 316 votes.
Athens-Meigs Educational Service Center Governing Board
Fred Davis beat challenges Kevin Dugan and Lynette Marie Thompson for the at-large seat on the Athens-Meigs ESC board.
Davis received 1,280 votes, or around 42%. Thompson received around 36% of votes, 1,091 total. Dugan received around 22% of votes, 674 total.
“I was pleased as far as that goes, and look forward to serving on the board,” Davis told the Independent. He said he hopes that given the 40 years he spent on the Alexander Local School District Board of Education that people know he will “put kids and their families first.”
“I’ll do everything I can to improve the services or the support the school districts are in and be easily accessible,” Davis said.
Note: We updated this story around 3 p.m. Nov. 5 to include comments from John Standley and Nov. 6 around 2 p.m. to include comments from Gem Stone.
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