Meet the candidates running for North Platte School Board Ward 1

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) - Two candidates are registered to run for the North Platte Public School Board Ward 1.

Cynthia O’Connor recently retired from the district’s business department after 17 years as a payroll and bookkeeper. She says says aside from helping cut spending, her number one priority is to focus on increasing student test scores.

“I looked at the Nebraska Department of Education’s website and even though we are doing fairly well in test scores, we can do better,” said O’Connor. “Some of the school’s back east are in the 95 percent and it’s like what are they doing different than we’re doing.”

Marcy Hunter is the human resources and marketing president at Western Nebraska Bank. She says her priorities, if elected, will be to improve test scores and find solutions to the teacher shortage.

“I do feel like the school has been working to enhance that but I do feel like the board really needs to focus on the teacher shortage and do what we can to fulfill the areas that we need more teachers in because if we can have enough teachers then we can make sure that our student’s educational needs are met,” Hunter said.

The general election is Nov. 8. View a Lincoln County sample ballot here.

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