By PAT NEWMAN
pnewman@thecitizennews.com

Last Tuesday's primary election for Board of Education posts 2 and 3 will end in a runoff Aug. 8 between top vote-getters Terri Smith and Kim Gatlin in Post 2, and Marion Key and Connie Hale for Post 3.

Smith, who was attending a family reunion in Iceland, tracked the results of the election via the internet. “I was obviously pleased with the results,” she said upon her return. Smith racked up 2,539 votes taking 32 percent of the total number of votes cast. ”I will continue to get out and talk to people, and I'm planning several mailings,” the mother of two and former teacher reported.

Her main issue continues to be school overcrowding. “I'm concerned about how to the raise the money,” she said, referring to the funds needed for new construction.

Kim Gatlin took 1,690 votes, 21 percent of the vote, in the five-way race for Post 2. She said this week that she will continue to make phone calls to voters urging them to vote in the runoff. Gatlin, a mother of three and a part-time marketing consultant, said she and the members of her family have “learned a lot” from the experience of running as a school board candidate.

A self-described “quiet person,” Gatlin said she has met a lot of nice people and taken part in many activities, such as the Peachtree City Fourth of July parade and Fayetteville's July Jam, that she never had before, as a result of her candidacy.

While Gatlin herself works in the corporate world, her husband is a teacher in a neighboring county. “I know about the teaching life,” she said. Her mother and sister are also teachers. Gatlin said many voters have the impression that school board candidates should have a background in education. In actuality, board members set policy, not curriculum.

Incumbent Connie Hale took 39 percent of the vote or 3,152 votes in the race for post two. Hale said she will continue to phone voters and remind them to get out and vote in the runoff. Marion Key, who took 35 percent of the total vote or 2,794 votes was out of town and could not be contacted for her reaction to the election results.