This post has been updated to include comments from school board candidates Derek Helms and Scott Speights.
By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com
The Arkadelphia Board of Education will have some new faces come spring 2026, as up to five of the seven positions could potentially be filled with newcomers to the school board.
Familiar faces and ‘Fresh blood’
Only two board members — incumbents Matt Johnson and Ida Tramble — will retain their seats without opposition.
Two school board seats will have new faces as Blake Bell and Gina White did not file for re-election. The sole candidates who filed for those zones are Derek Helms and Scott Speights, respectively.
Bell, who in recent years was elected board president by his peers, said it was time to step aside to make room for leadership with “new ideas and energy.” Reflecting on his 8-year stint as a board member, Bell said, “I feel like we’ve accomplished a lot. We’ve finished two new schools and hopefully will be starting on a third.”
Like Bell, White agreed that it’s “time for some new blood.” She had three goals in mind during her time on the board: teacher raises, new school buildings, and the addition of career tech/FFA. Now that most of those goals have come to fruition, White said it’s time for her to step down.
Stepping into Bell’s seat without opposition is fifth-generation farmer Derek Helms. The 1999 graduate of Arkadelphia High School holds a bachelor’s degree of science in agribusiness from Southern State University and is the current president of Clark County Farm Bureau. Helms, a married father of two young daughters, also serves as a director on the American Soybean Association’s board of directors.
“I believe in the value of career and technical education and with the addition of the new vocational agriculture program in the Arkadelphia district I hope to use my experience to help guide that program to success,” Helms said. “The current high school is in a dilapidated state. There is no question of whether it is safe or secure. I also know the struggle of district taxpayers. It will be my job as a representative of those tax payers to listen to their desires for the district and help make the most judicious use what funds they provide pending the millage election.”
Speights will be taking White’s position on the board, also without an opponent. The Arkadelphia native and father of four (two of whom are currently enrolled in the school district) currently sits on the Arkadelphia Promise board and the Arkadelphia Baseball Committee. Speights is a former volunteer fireman and currently works in corporate sales.
“I have skin in the game,” Speights said when asked why he is seeking a seat on the school board. “Not only because of my children but because of the hundreds of children who I pray with at church, coach all year long, cheer for on Friday nights, get to see at Walmart, restaurants, parades, ball parks and love on like they are mine every day in this town I love.
“I think you need to have a finger on the pulse of our district to really know the good and bad of it,” Speights continued, adding that he is involved in local schools and universities and communicates often with school leaders outside the Arkadelphia district. “I think outside knowledge is useful at times,” he said.
One improvement Speights would like to see is more communication highlighting the district’s achievements. Noting that Superintendent Nikki Thomas has “done a fantastic job being upfront and communicating our needs” regarding the millage, Speights said he’d like to see the district promote “everything we love about our schools, starting with all the great things Jason Jones is doing for the Arkadelphia Promise and of course the construction of our new high school.”
Holdovers
Zones 2 and 4 drew no candidates as Kenneth Harris and Lori Smith, who held those respective seats, did not file for re-election. The two holdovers will remain on the board until their resignations — if they happen — force the board to appoint replacements.
More information on filling vacancies is available in the school board’s policy.
A contested race
The Zone 6 position is the only contested race in the upcoming school board election. The zone, which generally encompasses Arkadelphia’s University Heights, drew competition as incumbent Clark Tennyson has a challenger in Michael Ray Taylor.
Elected in 2021, Tennyson said having a child enrolled in the district was his reason for serving on the board — and remains the reason for keeping the seat. Taylor, on the other hand, is an empty-nester whose three sons all attended and graduated from the school system.
Acknowledging that Tennyson has been “a good school board member,” Taylor said he decided to toss his name in the hat in hopes of adding “fresh blood” to the board.
In phone interviews with arkadelphian.com, both candidates voiced support for a proposed millage increase that would fund the construction of a new high school. The millage issue will be decided in November 2025, months ahead of the school board election this coming March.
Tennyson hailed the measure as a necessity to align district facilities with state requirements and to bolster student opportunities (with the inclusion of a career education center for agriscience curriculum) and community economics (with an arena that will allow the district to host regional basketball tournaments).
While Taylor admits the millage is a “huge financial commitment” for district taxpayers that will “outlive myself and many people before it’s paid off,” he also views it as necessary in order to propel the school and the Arkadelphia community into the future. “We’re looking at a high school that will be here until 2080,” Taylor said. “It’s a generational commitment.”
Tennyson, who manages Clark Timberlands’s timber and real estate holdings and is Ross Foundation trustee, said a vote for him would favor the “positive momentum” the school district has, including the extension of the Arkadelphia Promise Scholarship and a recent report on how AHS grads enrolled in college are exceeding the state’s retention rates.
Taylor, a professor emeritus of Henderson State University, where he taught journalism for 30 years, said the many challenges facing public schools nowadays call for someone like himself who’s mentored students in Arkadelphia and watched them succeed on a national level. “We need someone to keep that energy alive in the public schools,” Taylor said.
The school board election will take place with the party preferential primary and non-partisan judicial election. Early voting starts Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. Early voting hours will be 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays at the Arkadelphia Recreation Center, 2555 Twin Rivers Dr. Early voting ends at 5 p.m. Monday, March 2, 2026.
Election Day is Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Polls will be open at one of several Vote Centers from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
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