Coppell Chronicle Vol. 5, No. 46
Caviness Will Step Down After Three Terms • Coppell’s Fire Protection System Remains Elite • Longtime Volunteers Lauded for Their Service • Could Accessory Dwelling Units Work Here?
Happy new year, loyal subscribers! Let’s start 2026 with some breaking news.
Caviness Will Step Down After Three Terms
David Caviness intends to step down from the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees after nine years of service.
In an announcement posted on social media this morning, Caviness said it’s time for the next generation of parents to serve on the school board, which he has led as its president for nearly four years. He also wants more time with his family.
“Throughout this journey, I have done my best to put the interests of our community and district ahead of my own,” Caviness said in his announcement. “While serving as a Trustee is a volunteer role, anyone who has lived it knows it becomes a full-time commitment, thousands of hours, late nights, and difficult decisions. That commitment has often pulled me away from my business and, most importantly, from my family. They are the ones who have sacrificed the most so that I could serve this community.”
Jessica Caviness is a math teacher at Highland Park High School. She and David have three sons; the oldest graduated from Coppell High School in 2025, and his brothers are on track to do the same in a few years.
“Thank you for placing your trust in me for nearly a decade,” Caviness’ announcement said. “Thank you for your engagement, your passion, and your unwavering belief in what Coppell ISD can be. And thank you to my family for their steadfast support through every late meeting, difficult vote, and this long season of service.”
Caviness was elected in 2017, when he beat Vara Kuppam in their competition for the Place 5 seat that Amy Dungan opted to give up. Caviness was unopposed in 2020, and he defeated Julie Waters in 2023.
One other seat on the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees will be on the ballot this spring. Ranna Raval was elected to the Place 4 seat in 2023, and she told me she will seek reelection.
(Raval bested Jonathan Powers and Samit Patel three years ago, when Neena Biswas decided to not run for a second term as the Place 4 trustee; Powers won the Place 2 seat over Waters last year, and Patel is about to join the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission.)
Election Day isn’t until May 2, but the first day of the filing period is right around the corner. Candidates for our city councils and school boards can file their paperwork between 8 a.m. on Jan. 14 and 5 p.m. on Feb. 13.
Here’s a look at who holds the other seats that voters residing in Coppell and/or Coppell ISD will see on their ballots this spring.
Coppell City Council
All council members are elected at-large, meaning candidates can live anywhere in the city, and every voter in the city gets a say in every race. Four seats will be on the ballot:
Place 1 — Jim Walker was elected in 2023, when Cliff Long opted not to run for a fourth term.
Place 3 — Don Carroll won this seat in 2021, when he bested Davin Bernstein and Meghan Shoemaker as they vied to fulfill the remainder of Wes Mays’ term. Carroll was unopposed in 2023.
Place 5 — Ramesh Premkumar was elected in 2024, when he beat Freddie Guerra as they competed to finish John Jun’s term. One year earlier, Premkumar lost to Walker.
Place 7 — Mark Hill won this seat in 2014, when he beat incumbent Aaron Duncan. Three years later, he fended off a challenge from Maggie Lucas. Hill was unopposed in both 2020 and 2023.
All four incumbents told me they plan to run for reelection.
Carrollton-Farmers ISD Board of Trustees
Coppell’s Riverchase neighborhood and half of Valley Ranch are in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, which uses a unique method of conducting elections called cumulative voting. Under that system, all candidates compete against each other. There are two positions 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 Randy Schackmann.
Irving City Council
A big chunk of Coppell ISD is in Irving, where a few council members are elected at-large, but most represent geographic districts.
Mayor — Valley Ranch resident Rick Stopfer has been the mayor for nine years, but he is not eligible to run again due to Irving’s term limits. That means this field is wide open! (Somewhere in Irving, somebody is reading this and channeling their inner Goldie Wilson: “Mayor? Now that’s a good idea! I could run for mayor! … I like the sound of that!”)
District 3 — Abdul Khabeer won this seat in 2023, when he ousted Mark Zeske in a runoff. The two of them also competed in a runoff in 2020. District 3 includes the Parkside West neighborhood within Coppell ISD.
District 5 — Mark Cronenwett won this seat in a runoff against Heather Stroup in 2023, when Oscar Ward had to step down due to term limits. District 5 includes the Parkside East neighborhood within Coppell ISD.
Irving voters will also see a ballot proposition asking whether their city should keep sending sales-tax revenues to Dallas Area Rapid Transit.
(See “Irving Voters Will Decide DART’s Fate” in Vol. 5, No. 38.)
Lewisville City Council
A smidgen of Coppell ISD is in Lewisville, where council members must reside in geographic districts, but every voter gets to weigh in on each race.
District 1 — Bob Troyer was elected in 2017, emerging from a field of five candidates competing for an open seat. Troyer was unopposed in both 2020 and 2023.
District 3 — Ronni Cade won this seat in a 2021 special election, and she was reelected in 2023, when she bested Will Ignace. She previously served on the City Council from 1994 to 1998.
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.
For the past few years, Lewisville ISD has been transitioning from a purely at-large system to one featuring a mix of at-large seats and geographic districts. After this round of voting, each trustee will have been elected under the new rules.
District 4 — There is no incumbent, because the winner of this seat will replace Michelle Alkhatib, who resides in District 1.
District 5 — Staci Barker was elected over two competitors in 2023, when Tracy Scott Miller opted not to run again. Barker resides in District 5, and she has signaled that she intends to seek a second term.
Fun factoids: The Lewisville ISD Board of Trustees is the only elected body mentioned in this article that is exclusively female, and the school district’s superintendent is also a woman. The Irving City Council, on the other hand, is exclusively male, and their city manager is a man.
Coppell’s Fire Protection System Remains Elite
Coppell residents are in good hands, according to the rarefied grade bestowed upon the city’s fire protection system.
For the third time, Coppell has received a Public Protection Classification grade of 1 from the Insurance Services Office (ISO), which rates communities on a scale of 1 to 10. The ISO is affiliated with Verisk, a company that describes itself as “a leading source of information about property/casualty insurance risk.”
Coppell Fire Chief Kevin Richardson recently told the City Council that fewer than 1 percent of the communities surveyed by the ISO receive a Class 1 rating. Coppell first achieved Class 1 status in 2008, and the city’s rating was reaffirmed in 2017 and 2025.