Filing period opens Monday for school board seats

The filing period opens Monday for residents who want to file declarations of candidacy for school board seats.

Declarations will be accepted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday at Oklahoma election boards, including the Comanche County Election Board in the Comanche County Courthouse at Southwest 5th and C.

There is no filing fee, but a school board candidate must have lived in the district he/she is seeking to represent and have been a registered voter within the geographic boundaries of the district for at least six months prior to the first day of the filing period. In addition, the candidate must have a high school diploma or certificate of high school equivalency.

Candidates also may not have been convicted of a misdemeanor involving embezzlement or any felony, or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, for at least 15 years following completion of their sentence.

The primary election is Feb. 11, with a general election set for April 1.

In Lawton, seats up for election include Office 5 for Lawton Public Schools (now held by Zeldon Rice) and Zone 5 for Great Plains Technology Center (now held by Dr. Cindy Sheppard). Lawton Public Schools’ Office 5 represents central Lawton and includes the elementary school attendance areas of Adams, Cleveland, Lincoln, Whittier and Washington.

Other school districts that have Office 5 seats open are: Cache, Chattanooga, Elgin, Fletcher, Geronimo, Indiahoma, Boone-Apache, Cement, Central High, Cyril, Empire, Mountain View-Gotebo, Sterling, and Walters. Office 5 is a five-year term.

In addition, other school board seats up for election in 2025 include: Bishop Schools, Office 1 (three-year term); Flower Mound Schools, Office 1 (five-year term); Snyder Public Schools, Office 2 and Office 3 (both four-year terms); and Walters, Office 2 (two-year term). Three technology schools also will have elections: Great Plains Technology Center Zone 5; Caddo-Kiowa Technology Center, Fort Cobb, Zone 2; and Red River Technology Center, Duncan, Zone 5.

Technology centers and some school districts cross into multiple counties.