Four-way April election contest set for school board at New Bloomfield

A four-way race has developed in the April 2 election for two seats on the Board of Education at the New Bloomfield R-3 School District.

Candidates include two current members of the board, Shawn Cockrum and Kathy Becker, and two others, Susie Hinrichs and Wil Lawrence.

Shawn Cockrum

Shawn Cockrum is seeking re-election to his fifth term as a member of the New Bloomfield School Board.

Cockrum is director of Migrate Education and English Language Learning Programs for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Cockrum is a 1981 graduate of Los Lunas High School in Los Lunas, N.M.

He is a 1985 graduate of Eastern New Mexico University with a degree in Business Administration.

Cockrum is married to the former Lorna Renoe. They have a daughter, Megan, who attends Columbia College, and a son Cameron, who is an eighth grader at New Bloomfield.

Cockrum said the biggest challenge facing the board is "guiding the fiscal ship of the school district. With the funding losses on the state level, coupled with continually increasing state requirements, it creates a greater challenge to deal with fiscal matters. We need to do more with less, and that gets tougher each year. That's why I am running again. I feel it is important to use my experience to help guide the district forward."

Cockrum said even with less money the district has been advancing academically in recent years. "Even with less money, the district recently met all 14 state requirements. That's a great accomplishment and a tribute to the administration and teachers," Cockrum said.

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.