Coppell Chronicle Vol. 2, No. 47

Another Election Cycle Begins This Week • Trustees Open to Widening Open Enrollment • City Losing One of its Leading Volunteers • ‘Discover Coppell’ Campaign to Continue

Another Election Cycle Begins This Week

If you’re thinking about running for office, get your rear in gear. Wednesday is the first day that candidates can file paperwork to compete in this year’s municipal elections. I’m expecting a flurry of activity on the first day and some last-minute moves on the filing period’s final day (Feb. 17), with nothing much happening in between.

Election Day will be May 6. Here’s a look at who holds the seats that voters residing in Coppell and/or Coppell ISD will see on their ballots.

COPPELL CITY COUNCIL

Every Coppell voter gets to vote for every council member.

Place 1: Cliff Long, who is completing his third term, has never needed one vote. He was unchallenged in 2014, 2017, and 2020.

Place 3: Don Carroll won this seat in 2021 by defeating Davin Bernstein in a runoff, 55% to 45%. Bernstein had led the three-candidate field in the general election with 37%, followed by Carroll’s 34% and Meghan Shoemaker’s 29%.

They were vying to complete the unexpired term of Wes Mays, who’d given up the Place 3 seat to run for mayor. In the pandemic-delayed election of November 2020, Mays had fended off a challenge from Bernstein, 55% to 45%.

Place 5: John Jun won this open seat in December 2020 by defeating Jim Walker in a runoff, 60% to 40%. In the general election, Jun led a three-candidate field with 47%, followed by Walker’s 33% and Erin Bogdanowicz’s 20%. (Two years earlier, Jun lost to Biju Mathew in a runoff for the Place 6 seat, 57% to 43%.)

Place 7: Mark Hill has announced he plans to seek a fourth term in this seat, which he won in 2014 by ousting incumbent Aaron Duncan, 64% to 36%. (Two years earlier, Duncan had been the only candidate to complete the unexpired term of Karen Hunt, who’d given up the Place 7 seat to run for mayor.) In 2017, Hill squeaked by Maggie Lucas, 50.5% to 49.5%, but he was unchallenged in 2020.

COPPELL ISD BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Every voter in Coppell ISD gets to vote for every board member.

Place 4: Neena Biswas won this seat in November 2020 by ousting four-term incumbent Thom Hulme, 51% to 49%.

Place 5: David Caviness won this open seat in 2017 by defeating Vara Kuppam, 66% to 34%. Caviness was unchallenged in 2020.

Place 7: Two months ago, the Board of Trustees appointed Jobby Mathew to complete Tracy Fisher’s unexpired term; Fisher had to resign because she was a candidate for the State Board of Education. This seat will be on the ballot again in 2024, when the winner will secure a full three-year term.

IRVING CITY COUNCIL

A big chunk of Coppell ISD is in the City of Irving.

Mayor: Valley Ranch resident Rick Stopfer, who was a member of the Irving City Council from 1998 until 2012, was elected mayor in 2017, when he earned 67% of the votes despite having three opponents. In 2020, he defeated Olivia Novelo Abreu, 54% to 46%.

District 3: Mark Zeske won this open seat in December 2020 by besting Abdul Khabeer in a runoff, 55% to 45%. His district includes the Parkside West neighborhood that is within Coppell ISD.

District 5: J. Oscar Ward won this seat in 2014, when he edged incumbent Rose Cannaday, 52% to 48%. Ward overwhelmed Abdel Elhassan, 84% to 16%, in 2017, and he was unchallenged in 2020. His district includes the Parkside East neighborhood that is within Coppell ISD.

CFBISD BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Coppell’s Riverchase neighborhood and about half of Valley Ranch are within the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, which uses a unique method of conducting elections called cumulative voting. There are two seats on the ballot this year, so each voter will get two votes. You can give both of your votes to a single candidate or divide them among two candidates.

The two seats are held by Carolyn Benavides and Les Black. In November 2020, Black and Juan Renteria were the winners in a three-candidate field. Renteria resigned less than a year later, and the other trustees appointed Benavides to serve until May 2022, when she was unchallenged in a special election for a one-year term.

DALLAS CITY COUNCIL

Cypress Waters is in Coppell ISD but also the City of Dallas.

Mayor: This seat was open in 2019, and nine candidates threw their hats in the ring. Eric Johnson defeated Scott Griggs in a runoff, 56% to 44%. Johnson got 41,247 votes in the runoff, and Dallas had a population of 1.3 million in 2019, so the mayor was supported by only 3% of his constituents. Despite that math, he should be a shoo-in for a second term. The Dallas Morning News recently reported that it’s been at least 90 years since a Dallas mayor lost a reelection bid.

District 6: Omar Narvaez has represented Cypress Waters and West Dallas since 2017. He won a third term in 2021 with 56% of the votes despite having four challengers, one of whom was his predecessor, Monica Alonzo.

LEWISVILLE ISD BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The Coppell Greens neighborhood is in Lewisville ISD, as are some homes in Coppell’s East Lake and Westhaven subdivisions along State Highway 121.

Place 6: Kristi Hassett won this seat in 2014. She was unopposed in 2020, but she fended off three challengers in 2017 with 68% of the votes.

Place 7: Tracy Scott Miller won this seat in 2014. He was unopposed in 2020, but he fended off three challengers in 2017 with 54% of the votes.

LEWISVILLE CITY COUNCIL

A smidgen of Coppell ISD is in the City of Lewisville.

Place 1: Bob Troyer won this seat in 2017 by defeating Carolyn Wright in a runoff, 68% to 32%. They were among five candidates competing for the open seat in the general election. Troyer was unopposed in 2020.

Place 3: Ronni Cade won this seat in 2021 by defeating Penny Mallet, 53% to 47%, in a special election. They were vying to replace TJ Gilmore, who’d given up the Place 3 seat to run for mayor.

I’d hate to think someone contemplating a run for office around here was not already a Chronicle subscriber, but just in case …

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Trustees Open to Widening Open Enrollment

As I said in the previous article, there are parts of the City of Coppell that are not within the boundaries of Coppell ISD. However, under the district’s Open Enrollment program, schools that have extra room will accept students from those Coppell neighborhoods.

During a workshop on Monday, the majority of the Board of Trustees expressed interest in broadening their Open Enrollment program to students who don’t live in the City of Coppell.

“If we truly value the entire district of Coppell ISD, we have to get away from this rule of 75019,” Trustee Manish Sethi said. “Whatever the alternate is, I’m completely open, but this rule has to change.”