Alba-Golden, Yantis school board candidates profiled

Posted 10/29/20

The following candidates are running for the Yantis ISD School Board. Four candidates are seeking two seats in the Nov. 3 election.

Jennifer Larkin is seeking one of the two seats available in …

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Alba-Golden, Yantis school board candidates profiled

Posted

The following candidates are running for the Yantis ISD School Board. Four candidates are seeking two seats in the Nov. 3 election.

Jennifer Larkin is seeking one of the two seats available in the Yantis school board election. Her children are son, Brant, a freshman at Yantis High School and daughter, Kennlee, who attends Yantis Elementary.

She has lived in Yantis for 11 years and is president of Yantis Baseball Association and vice president of Yantis Little Dribblers. Larkin is an active member of Trinity Harvest Church of God in Sulphur Springs. She has worked at M&F Western Products for eight years as sales support coordinator.

Jennifer McKeever is an incumbent running for re-election as a member of the Yantis ISD school board. 

She was born and raised in Sulphur Springs and has lived in Yantis for the past eight years. She has been married to Ty McKeever for seven years and they have five children. She works for a home health company, and she and her husband own a local small business, McKeever Garage, which has been in Yantis for over 30 years. 

Having five kids, the family stays on the go and it keeps them involved in the community. They are an outdoors family who, outside of the school and extracurricular activities, enjoy the different hunting and fishing seasons. She believes children deserve a standard of education that will allow them to succeed. Taxpayers deserve to have their money allocated fairly and responsibly. McKeever serves as the vice president of the school board.

Teresa Starrett is running for a seat on the Yantis ISD School Board. She is almost 50 years old with two daughters, Kara who is 30, and Callie who is 12. She has a son-in-law, Bo, who is married to Kara, and they have two daughters, Haylee and Natalee. 

She has been involved with education her whole life. Starett has personal experiences in early education, following both her daughters through their early education, and acquiring her associate of applied sciences degree in nursing. She has worked in the educational system as well as in the health care system.

She was a second-grade teaching assistant at Lynnwood Elementary in Indianapolis, Ind. Following that, she assisted both daughters in their early education through homework endeavors. Starrett has witnessed first-hand what students go through within the positives and negatives of education. Some children struggle. Some children soar. It is her hope by becoming more involved in local education and community endeavors, she will assist individuals, of all levels of education, in finding their avenues for success.

Incumbent Melissa Stephens is running to be re-elected to the Yantis ISD school board where she has served as president. She has owned Yantis Café for 13 years, has two grown daughters and 10 grandchildren.

Stephens loves Yantis and wants to continue helping the community and school district in any possible way she can.

Alba-Golden School Board

The following candidates are running for the Alba-Golden ISD School Board. Seven candidates are seeking three seats for full terms and Grant Sadler is unopposed for the unexpired term. All candidates were contacted about providing information.

Lisa Morrison, 41, is the mother of two teenagers at AGISD and the daughter of two lifelong teachers. Her family moved here five years ago from Allen. About eight years ago, she was blessed with the opportunity to stay home and care for her family and has been doing that ever since. Before that, she spent 12 years in the internal audit department at Southwest Airlines, where she was responsible for evaluating business, technology and financial operations to identify risk and ensure checks and balances existed to minimize those risks and provide transparency and accountability. She is a member of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Emory, where she has served as a faith formation and sacrament catechist for the last five years.

Grant Sadler and his wife Stephanie are graduates of Alba-Golden and are both self-employed small business owners in Wood County. They have three children, Easton, Lucy and Liam who attend Alba-Golden Elementary. They are members of Lake Fork Baptist Church. 

Sadler serves as a member of the Alba-Golden School Board. He is president of the Golden Sweet Potato Festival committee, a Wood County Farm Bureau board member and vice president of the NETBIO organization.

Jason Stovall, 40, is a 1998 graduate of Alba-Golden ISD and a 2002 graduate of Texas A&M University, College Station. 

He has been married to his wife, Mandi, for 18 years and they have one son, Cade, who is a sophomore at Alba-Golden High School. 

He is the assistant division manager for the Sabine River Authority of Texas, Lake Tawakoni Division. 

He is a member of First Baptist Church of Mineola, where he serves as a deacon and Sunday school teacher. 

Stovall is the president of the Alba-Golden ISD School Board and has served the district for six years as well as serving as a board member for Bright Star SUD.  

Dana Weissert is a resident of Alba and a 1994 graduate of Alba-Golden ISD. She is a nurse and works at Texas A&M University – Commerce. She and her husband Brad have raised five boys in the Alba-Golden school district. They also have one granddaughter and two more on the way. She has been involved in many extra-curricular activities over the years from little league, little dribblers, peewee football and athletic booster club. She is very passionate about her alumni and wants the very best for the kids at Alba-Golden. She feels as though she can give her time and effort in helping to maintain the school as one of the best.

Randall Cole, 36, has been working in the oilfield since he was 20 years old. He attended Alba-Golden schools. This is his first time to run for any type of elected position.

Also on the ballot are Johnny Teel, Sancy Baker and Brad Lennon.