The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board’s seat for District 1, which includes Davidson, will be filled by someone new in November, and that someone will be female. When the filing period closed at noon Friday, the District 1 ballot listed three women as candidates Robin Bradford, Rhonda Lennon and Gail Summerskill. The incumbent, Larry Gauvreau, who has been in office since 2001, did not seek reelection.

Robin Bradford Rhonda Lennon (at center). Gail Summerskill

The three candidates for District 1 are:

• Robin Bradford of Huntersville, a mother of two and a retired director at Fidelity Investments.  She currently volunteers at her church and also in a job readiness program for the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Department.  Click here to see her website.
• Rhonda Lennon of Huntersville, who narrowly lost to Mr. Gauvreau in the 2005 election.  All three of Ms. Lennon’s children are CMS students, including two daughters at North Meck High and a son at Huntersville Elementary. She works as a Registered Nurse at Presbyterian Hospital and also as a Realtor at Keller Williams Realty Cornelius. You can view her website by clicking here.
• Gail Summerskill, who lives in Charlotte’s Highland Creek neighborhood and has a 35-year career in education.  Dr. Summerskill comes from a family of educators, has a doctoral degree in rhetoric and composition from the University of Maryland, and currently teaches writing at Strayer University.  Find out more by clicking on her website.

One person not in the race is Charles Jeter, a Huntersville town commissioner. Mr. Jeter had been considering a run, but told supporters this week that he would seek another term on the Huntersville Town Board.

All six districts on the CMS board are up for election this year.  The three at-large seats on the nine-member board will not be on the 2009 ballot.  District one includes the towns of Davidson, Cornelius, Huntersville and parts of north Charlotte.  School board members serve four year terms.

The biggest surprise of the filing period was the last-minute withdrawal of incumbent Ken Gjertsen from the list of candidates for the south suburban District 6.  That means Terri Dickinson, Tim Morgan and John Ross will be vying for an open seat.  In other school board district races, nine candidates filed for the eastern District 3, including the incumbent, James Ross; incumbent Kimberly Mitchell-Walker is being challenged by Richard McElrath in the western District 2; no one filed to challenge the incumbent, Tom Tate, in the east Charlotte District 4; and in the open District 5 seat (the current board Chair Molly Griffin did not seek reelection), Eric Davis will face Susan Walker.

For a full list of the candidates, check the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections website.