Candidates For LISD Board of Trustees, Place 1 - 2012 Election

Date 2012/3/4 8:10:00 | Topic: Lewisville ISD Notes

Four candidates have now filed to run for Lewisville ISD School Board, Place 1, the seat currently held by Trustee Tom Ferguson, who announced that he will not be seeking re-election.

Former Lewisville ISD Trustee Kathy Duke, activist Paige Shoven, former educator June Ehinger, and School Counselor Tracee Ali are running


Kathy Duke
Kathy Duke, 44, previously served on the LISD board for 6 years, but was unseated in 2010 by Trustee Julie Foughty. A lifelong resident of the Lewisville area, Duke currently lives in Highland Village, and works as a marketing director in Flower Mound. Duke has a son attending Heritage Elementary, and a daughter attending Marcus High School. Duke has served on the board of PediPlace, Flower Mound Rotary, South Denton County Neighbor to Neighbor, and the Lewisville Education Foundation, among others. Duke is the current Chairman of the LISD Bond Oversight committee.



Paige Shoven
Paige Shoven, 35, is an optician / business manager from Lewisville. She has been active in the PTA, on the local, council, and area levels, having served as a President and in other roles. In 2007, Shoven got involved when she thought the school board was not making the best choices for children. But Shoven says she has seen positive change, and thinks LISD is currently being led in the right direction.

Shoven and her husband Rick have two daughters in LISD. She has lived in the district for 12 years.




June Ehinger
Dr. June Ehinger, 65, lives in Castle Hills (Lewisville E.T.J.) and is a retired educator. Ehinger has worked as an elementary and middle school teacher, a principal, and a director of technology. Ehinger was a Deputy Director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, where she worked for 16 years. She has designed workshops and conferences for school board members, and taken on tasks like superintendent searches.

Ehinger earned her B.A. in Elementary Education from the University of Montana, a Master's in Education from Tennessee Tech, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Research from the University of Tulsa.

A recent transplant to the Lewisville area, Dr. Ehinger has three grandchildren who attend or will attend LISD schools. She has lived in the district for 13 months.


Tracee Ali
Tracee P. Ali, 45, of Lewisville has worked in the field of higher education career counseling for over 15 years, serving as Career Director for the University of Dallas for 8 years. Ali holds a Masters Degree in Counseling from Florida State University.

Ali is involved in Girl Scouts and the PTA. She serves on her neighborhood's social committee and volunteers at Operation Kindness. She has lived in the Dallas area for 12 years and the Lewisville school district for 3 years.

She and her husband, Mir, have two daughters who are currently attending Independence Elementary and Killian Middle School in the LISD school district. Both are in the Gifted and Talented programs, and her older daughter is a member of the Honors Band.



Both Shoven and Duke cite school finance as a top concern in the race, and both say they are fiscally conservative. “Never before have the budgetary challenges to our schools been greater than today, so I do believe this is the time we can’t afford to entrust the board to anyone other than a fiscally conservative and experienced advocate for our children, ” said Duke, who points to her role in helping to build the district's solid fund balance, which has helped the district weather the shortfalls in state funding.

For her part, Shoven claims to be the true conservative in the race. "While continuing to fight for our fair share of money from the state, LISD needs to move forward with what we do have. I look forward to approving a budget that maximizes every dollar today while providing the students the best opportunities for tomorrow," said Shoven.

Ehinger said her goals are to be responsive to the community and the goals that have been identified in the Strategic Planning process. Ehinger wants to support the current board and superintendent in their continuation of the exemplary educational opportunities Lewisville ISD has to offer. “Lewisville Schools are outstanding in both academics and athletics and I want to assist in the future of the district.

Ali says her interest in serving on the school board is to focus on the schools' counseling and career programs, which are areas that she feels are often overlooked.

School board races do not have runoff elections, so the winner of a plurality of votes wins the seat. This means a candidate could win the election with as little as just over 25% of the vote.

Election day is Saturday, May 12th. Early voting is April 30th - May 8th. Lewisville Texan Journal will post voting locations, dates, and times prior to early voting.

Related Links
- Paige Shoven Facebook Page
- Kathy Duke Facebook Page
- Paige Shoven campaign website
- Information on Place 2 School Board Race
- June Ehinger Facebook Page
- June Ehinger Campaign Website

Keywords
- MunicipalElection2012

(Originally posted 2/7/2012 - retopped 3/4/2012)



This article comes from The Lewisville Texan Journal
http://lewisvilletexan.com/xoops

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