Despite a night of close vote numbers and even a problem with voting machine tapes, the results for the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees and Coppell City Council still came in on Election Day, May 6.

In Place 4 on the CISD Board of Trustees, Thom Hulme won re-election against Ron Hansen with 1,778 votes (52 percent of votes).

“This was a pretty stressful election,” Hulme said. “I can’t tell you how appreciative I am of the folks who have supported me throughout. I’m looking forward to a lot of things.”

Hulme will serve his second term on the Board, and will be present at the next meeting on May 22.

“When you’re in a highly contested kind of election, people become vocal, and express their concerns, they express the things they want to see, and my opponent was much different than I am,” he said. “That’s OK, there’s nothing wrong with that. The important thing to me, my takeaway is to understand the people that have these concerns. The people who don’t believe they were doing as good of a job as we can, we need to address that.”

Hulme says he is “reinvigorated to try harder” by this election, and has specific issues he wants to focus on when he gets back into the boardroom.

“I will be working towards some solid things as far as when we do Board workshops, I am going to try and get those more visible to the public,” Hulme said. “I’m really going to go back to [Board President Anthony Hill] and talk to him about some of these concerns. I have a meeting agenda already put together. That’s going to be on the agenda as far as things that need to be done.”

Hulme views student’s education as a moving target, where there is always more that can be done. He plans to listen to the concerns from the entire community, including those who may not have voted for him.

“There’s transparency, there’s things regarding the tax rate and that kind of deal, I try to remind them that I am a taxpayer so I understand,” Hulme said. “I don’t get a tax break or anything as a kudo for doing this. We are going to continue to work hard to bring some help and relief to the city of Coppell.”

His opponent, Ron Hansen, received 1,609 votes (48 percent of votes). This was his second time running for school Board.

“Considering that I signed up to run for Place 4 with about an hour left to go on the last day, I think we gave it a pretty darn good run for a popular opponent,” Hansen said. “In hindsight, I’m incredibly pleased that I did it, I’m pleased that so many people reached out to me and voiced their concerns. I think we found some issues that nobody was aware of, that needed to be addressed in the community.”

Hansen initially ran with a goal to uphold financial responsibilities, then shifted his focus to a transgender bathroom issue.

“Honestly, when I heard this impassioned plea from a parent about this issue, my whole attitude came that this whole election, if it came down to making the difference in one child’s life, it was well worth it,” Hansen said. “From that perspective, my candidacy here was incredibly successful and I hope that people are aware of the issue and will use it to make changes.”

CISD Director of Communications and Public Relations Mandy McCune said Coppell ISD does not have a bathroom policy and will not change unless it is required to by state law. Coppell ISD only creates a policy if there a law to back up that policy, and at the time there is no such law.

In Place 5 on the CISD Board of Trustees, David Caviness won against Vara Kuppam with 2,277 votes (66 percent of the votes). 

“Overall it was a great win, the support I was shown was overwhelming,” Caviness said. “We were with friends and the first thing I did was a big sigh of relief, just knowing the results, talked to my wife and hugged everybody else we were around.”

Although he is a newcomer to the Board, Caviness is not new to being involved in the community. He currently serves as co-chair of the CISD Bond Oversight Committee.

“The fiscal responsibilities are important to me with my work currently on the Bond Oversight Committee, just making sure that we continue to stay on the path we’re on,” Caviness said. “We’re under budget, and our administration has done a great job being responsible with the funds.”

By talking to people on the campaign trail, some specific issues were brought to Caviness’s attention.

“The communication piece was a common theme I heard across the board as I was talking to our community,” Caviness said. “Just making sure I stay engaged and providing that meaningful feedback loop the community feels has been missing.”

Caviness hopes to provide an avenue for the community’s voice to be heard on the Board.

“One of my main themes throughout my campaign, as a member of the Board is representing the people and making sure that as a Trustee, I am engaged in the community and providing an avenue for the community as a whole, from parents to teachers to just our community members,” Caviness said. “I’m looking forward to the challenge that’s coming up.”

His opponent, Vara Kuppam, received 1,150 votes (34 percent of votes).

“First, let me thank the people, the community who has trusted me and voted for me,” Kuppam said. “It’s so important that during this campaign and journey, that I have gone to many parents, and they do have a lot of concerns.

“It’s time for me to represent those concerns, take those concerns to the ISD members and work with them as a team and come up with solutions for those concerns, especially for the parents and students who are going through a lot of stress at Coppell High School.”

Kuppam plans to share his thoughts on “a major concern among parents and students” in a presentation to the Board during the May 22 Board meeting.

“It’s just the beginning,” Kuppam said. “These are kind of baby steps to me right now. There’s a lot for me to do for the people who trusted me, who voted for me, now I have to work for that.”

In Place 7 on the Coppell City Council, Mark Hill won with 1,374 votes, only 26 more than his opponent, Maggie Lucas.

“We got a message that there was a problem with one of the tapes on the machine, and they didn’t know if they were going to have the results from the city,” Hill said. “We were all sitting around at the party thinking it was going to be inconclusive, and then a message came across with the results. We were just elated, especially when we saw how close it was.”

The morning after election day, Hill emailed his opponent Maggie Lucas requesting to meet with some of her supporters, so he could get a clear view on all perspectives in the city.

“I think it says that there are some differing opinions in the city,” Hill said. “There were some qualified candidates. Maggie was a formidable opponent, and ran a really good campaign. I’m looking to come together with her and her supporters and get some feedback from them, is there things that I can do as a councilman that they feel that I am falling short.”

He will go on a retreat with the City Council members, where they will set their goals for the year.

“We’ve talked about some items that would be on the agenda,” Hill said. “We sort through and we try to narrow it down to less than a dozen goals. I would really like to us make much more progress on bike trails throughout the city.”

As far as his focus this term, Hill is sticking to what he did before – representing the people.

“I’m there to serve the people, and to represent them and to make decisions based on the citizen’s feedback,” Hill said. “I wholeheartedly agree with listening to what citizens have to say on issues.”

His opponent, Maggie Lucas, received 1,348 votes in the tight race.

“I’m obviously disappointed in the results, but I’m so proud in the campaign that I ran,” Lucas said. “I ran a very honest, informed and positive campaign which I was really glad about.”

As far as her next steps, Lucas plans to continue working on the Economic Development Board, partnering with the Coppell Chamber of Commerce, and attending City Council meetings.

“I’m even more energized and committed to Coppell than I ever have been,” Lucas said. “Obviously going through this, you learn so much, and you are in the community so much during this process.”

She has agreed to arrange for Hill to meet with some of her supporters.

“I emailed back and said that I would be happy to meet with him and my key supporters, and discuss with him why my supporters rallied around me, and what he can do that would have made them more apt to support him,” Lucas said.