By DENISE KINDER
Staff Writer
The Twin Rivers R-X Board of Education will have a new face following Tuesday's election.
Keith Parker defeated incumbent Lee Lewis and will join Donna Sue Ashcraft-Fincher, who successfully regained her seat on the school board for a fifth term.
Ashcraft-Fincher received 39.9 percent of the votes with Parker following gaining 33.5 percent and Lewis receiving 25.7 percent.
The total votes for Ashcraft-Fincher were 945, Parker with 793 and Lewis with 609.
"This is my first experience as a board member," Parker said. "It's going to be a learning experience."
Parker said his first order of business will be to "learn the ropes" of the board and observe how meetings are conducted.
With the defeat of Proposition K.I.D.S. for the purpose of building a new high school in Broseley, Parker said the next step for the district would be to make improvements to the existing buildings if they are in bad shape.
"We will have to make major building improvements if the buildings are deteriorating, or whatever the case may be," Parker said. "It looks like we are going to be using them for a good while."
Ashcraft-Fincher said she believed the people of the district spoke following the results of the election with 42.7 percent of registered voters casting a ballot in Tuesday's election.
"They voted the way they felt it needed to be," she said. "I think we need to evaluate and prioritize our most important educational needs with the convening of our new board."
Ashcraft-Fincher carried all the precincts except for Wappapello, which Parker won by receiving 38.1 percent of votes. Ashcraft-Fincher followed there with 31.6 percent and Lewis with 29.2 percent.
The largest number of ballots cast came from the Broseley area with 342, followed by Fisk at 305 and Qulin with 239. Ashcraft-Fincher won each of the three precincts, followed by Parker and Lewis.