Candidates file for City Council & School Board Seats

July, 07, 2009 , by Khaner

The filing period for local and county political offices began this Monday. Among those turning out to reclaim their seat on the Raleigh City Council or challenge the incumbents were:

Rodger Koopman, District B (incumbent)
Thomas Crowder, District D (incumbent)
Bill Shakespeare, At-Large
Lee Sartain, At-Large
Champ Claris, At-Large

Additional incumbents such as At-Large members Mayor Meeker, Mary-Ann Baldwin and Russ Stephenson and District C council member James West have signaled they will be running for re-election as well. Also, recently profiled by New Raleigh, candidate for District D, Ted Van Dyk has signaled his intention to run.

Also at issue for this year’s races are four, hotly-contested seats on the Wake County School Board. At the crux of these races are Wake County’s diversity policy and the 2009-12 Wake County Student Reassignment Proposal. The 25,000 student re-assignment plan has fiercely polarized local groups, with proponents of local/neighborhood schools on one side and supporters of economic and social diversity on the other.

The board issued the plan earlier this year with hopes it would give families time to adjust to the changes. Instead, a detonation of parental outrage occurred which created groups like the Children’s Political Action Committee and the Wake Schools Community Alliance. Groups on both sides have spent the past several months vetting candidates, several of whom have already filed: