By Mindy Ragan Wood
Staff Writer
Piedmont’s Public School district will have a spring election as two candidates have filed for Office No. 4.
Cory Benton will face incumbent Steven Cox, Piedmont Board of Education president, in the 2019 election.
Benton is a longtime Piedmont resident and business owner. He is CEO and owner of ROBYN Promotions & Printing, a marketing company. According to his social media accounts Benton is the former vice president of sales and marketing for Express Personnel.
Cox is the Nichols Hills Police Chief where he has been employed since 1999. He has been a school board member for several years.
The race comes after a shakeup on the board earlier this year when Greg Duffy unseated longtime member Karen Green.
Melanie Berry, Piedmont resident and an Oklahoma Parent Center advocate, has already endorsed Benton. Berry has filed a civil rights complaint against the board after the special education department denied her son services.
“I know he has the best interest of the school district and town at heart,” Berry said. “He is a long-time Piedmont resident who is very vested in the school district.”
Berry said soon after Benton announced his candidacy, several people pledged their support.
“I believe he will have a lot of support. Lots of people have already said they’re all for him. A lot of them are people within the school district,” she said. “I think it will come down to do we want to stick with the same-old-same-old or do we want to have some fresh ideas and fresh faces to make changes and overseeing what’s happening with our school district.”
