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July 19, 2006

Good Hope voters return Schuman to school board

By Jimmy Simms

Jerry Schuman will once again represent Good Hope on the Cullman County Board of Education.

In unofficial results from Tuesday's Democratic Party runoff, Schuman defeated incumbent Jimmy Lynn to win back his seat on the board four years after Lynn defeated him for the post.

Because there are no Republican candidates for the District 7 seat, Schuman will formally be declared the winner once the results are certified on July 26.

The unofficial results show Schuman received 388 votes (54.57 percent) to Lynn's 323 votes (42.48 percent).

The order of finish is the same as it was six weeks ago when Schuman and Lynn earned spots in the runoff by outdistancing third place finisher Mary Gray in the Democratic primary. A total of 909 votes were cast in the primary election, compared to 711 votes cast during Tuesday's runoff.

Following his victory, Schuman said he is looking forward to once again representing Good Hope.

"I appreciate all of the voters who supported me, and I want to thank everyone for their help during my campaign and all of their hard work," Schuman said. "We're fortunate in this county to have a good school system. Of course, I wasn't running against Jimmy. He's a good friend of mine. I was just running for the position. I hate that he had to lose and I had to win, but we were friends before, and we're friends now."

Asked if he has a list of priorities he would like to address as the newest member of the board, Schuman said he is looking forward to working closely with administrators and teachers to find out what their wants and needs are.

"I'd like to look into obtaining funding for additional classrooms. I'd like to work on the overcrowding issue. Also, Good Hope needs a larger gymnasium. I'd like to help improve the technology at the schools and work on improving school safety," Schuman said.

Lynn said he made the point many times during his campaign that Good Hope wouldn't lose regardless of who won Tuesday's election.

"Jerry is still my friend. He worked harder than I did, and he deserves to win," Lynn said.

Asked if he would like to return the favor and regain his school board seat from Schuman in four years, Lynn said he will definitely be back.

"I will be back. He's a competitor just like I am, and as everyone knows, us Good Hope folks don't like to lose," Lynn said with a laugh.

Three other school board members are up for re-election this year, but none were on the June 6 primary ballot. Fairview representative Danny Ray will face Michael Knop in November; Tabatha House is challenging Sheila Kretzschmar for the Hanceville seat; and Vinemont's Randy Hasenbein is unopposed.

Cullman County Schools Superintendent Nancy Horton, a Republican, will face Democratic challenger Hank Allen, principal of West Point Middle School, in the general election.

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