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  • Tahlequah Public Schools voters on Tuesday selected David Morrison, left, to replace Seat 2 incumbent and board President Tim Baker with a 940-487 unofficial vote. Brian Berry, right, was selected to fill an unexpired term for Seat 5 by defeating challenger Stanley Young 746-664. Josh Newton

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February 15, 2012

Voters boot Baker

The TPS board president lost by a wide margin to David Morrison, who said district patrons are unhappy with top officials.

By JOSH NEWTON Staff Writer

TAHLEQUAH — Tahlequah I-35 voters overwhelmingly voted out the sitting school board president Tuesday night.

Seat 2 incumbent Tim K. Baker received 487 votes, or 34.13 percent, compared to challenger David Morrison’s 940 votes, or 65.87 percent.

In the race for Seat 5’s unexpired term, Brian Berry garnered 746 votes, or 52.91 percent, compared to challenger Stanley Young’s 664 votes, or 47.09 percent.

“I think people were really upset,” Morrison said after unofficial results were released.

“Teachers were really upset and support staff were really upset with both the board and the superintendent. I think the margin showed it.”

After being sworn in next month, Morrison said he plans to ease into his new role, but there are several issues he wants to address.

“We’ve got to take a hard look at the budget for next year,” said Morrison. “[Superintendent Dr. Shannon Goodsell] negotiated a raise for all the teachers without any idea of how much money they’re going to have next year, and they did it right before the election. The timing seemed awfully coincidental to me. We’ve got to see how much money we have to work with, and we’ve got to do something for the support employees, because the support employees were totally left out of that negotiation.”

Administration will also be a focus for Morrison.

“We’ve got to solidify the administration and make sure we don’t lose any more of our good administrators,” said Morrison.

Berry believes joining the board in March is like walking into a “lame-duck session.”

“Really, I’m not sure there’s not much we can do between now and June, with contracts coming up,” said Berry. “But I’m going to use every opportunity I have to get my hands around the issues that are facing us. I want to meet as many people as I can, and jump in with both feet.”

Berry said teachers and others in the TPS system expressed frustration to him over a lack of transparency from the board to administrators and district staff.

“We want to open it up,” said Berry. “I have two kids in the school system. I come in contact with teachers and a lot of people who are part of the system, and they have expressed dissatisfaction with so many issues that they have to face. That is probably one of the bigger reasons I wanted to get involved.”

In other school board races, Keys voters opted to replace Seat 2 incumbent John W. Rogers with John W. Mouse. Mouse received 194 votes, or 57.06 percent, compared to Rogers’ 117 votes, or 34.41 percent. A third candidate, Ray Kirk, received 29 votes, or 8.53 percent.

In the Briggs district, Anthony Hare captured Seat 2 with 81 votes, or 51.59 percent, compared to Jay Myres’ 76 votes, or 48.41 percent.

Elizabeth Colvin won the majority vote for Shady Grove’s Seat 2 with 86 votes, or 74.14 percent, compared to Rebecca Keys’ 30 votes, or 25.86 percent.

In Oaks, voters in Cherokee and Delaware counties selected Benny D. Foreman for Seat 2, with 28 votes, compared to Kip Wade’s 24 votes. In Cherokee County alone, Wade won 13 votes, compared to Foreman’s 9.

Cherokee County voters also participated in the multi-county election for Seat 4 of the Indian Capital Technology Center board. Ed Canterbury won 1,285 votes, or 57.73 percent, compared to Budo D. Perry’s 941 votes, or 42.27 percent from county voters.

Results will be certified after 5 p.m. Friday.

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