Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-1 will host a “meet the candidates” night on Monday, Oct. 9, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Elks Lodge in Cortez, giving voters a chance to learn more about the candidates and where they stand on issues.
Refreshments will be provided.
Board members who are vacating seats are Cody Wells, Lyndreth Wall, Sherri Wright and Layne Frazier.
Board President Sheri Noyes, Jeanette Hart and Ed Rice are in the middle of four-year terms, but plan to be present at the meet-and-greet along with the candidates.
The candidate for District A, held by Wells, is Rafe O’Brien. The contender for District D, the only two-year seat and currently held by Wall, is Leland Collins.
Jonathan James “JJ” Lewis and Rhonda Tracy are both vying for Wright’s District C seat, and Mike Lynch is running for Frazier’s seat in District G.
Rafe O’Brien has children who attend the school district and said, “I want to give back to the schools and have my voice heard, for my children and other families.”
Lewis, a United States Public Health Service Committee Corps veteran who served with the Navy, recently spoke out about staff retention and other issues within the district at a board meeting, will be running against Tracy for the District C seat which is currently held by Sherri Wright.
Lewis is an adventure therapist and psychotherapist with experience serving on boards. He is the current board secretary of the Motorcycle Relief Project and was vice president of The GS Giants, both of which are motorcycle groups.
He also co-directed a nonprofit called “Lost for a Reason,” which serves Navajo children and families on the Navajo Reservation and helped open one “of the largest domestic violence shelters” in Northern Arizona and the Navajo Reservation.
Tracy is an Air Force veteran and retired U.S. history teacher who currently works as a self-employed bookkeeper and caregiver for her disabled sister. She also has experience serving on other boards in the past.
Tracy said her background as a teacher has drawn her to serving on the school board to make a difference in the community and its students.
“I want to serve my community,” she said.
Lynch and his wife raised “or helped raise” six children through fostering in Montezuma County and two other states.
As of this writing, Collins has not responded to a request for comment.
More information on the candidates and their reason for running for the school board, goals and vision will be provided soon.
This story was updated to address Lewis’s clarification that he served with the Navy as part of the U.S. Public Health Service Committee Corps, not as an active member of the United States Navy.
