Richardson, McFerran win Fort Smith School Board posts in landslides; Rebels issue loses

The Southside Rebels issue might have been put to rest Tuesday night, Sept. 20, when Fort Smith voters opted to reelect Susan McFerran and elect Talicia Richardson to her first term.

With McFerran the embattled board member behind the controversial name change and Richardson a supporter of it, the vote seemed to officially tip the scales in favor of those wishing to move on from the issue, which dominated School Board headlines and pushed the previously unopposed McFerran into a three-way race.

The Fort Smith Public School Board voted 7-0 on July 27, 2015, to change the mascot and end use of the “Dixie” fight song associated with the school since it opened in 1963. The Board voted to discontinue use of “Dixie” as the Southside High School fight song in the 2015-2016 school year and to drop the Rebel as the Southside mascot in the 2016-2017 school year. A “Maverick” mascot has been adopted, and “Wabash Cannonball” is the new fight song.

“Remember in September” was a mantra among those hoping to overturn the mascot decision, but the election results suggested residents preferred another outcome.

Richardson won by the largest margin Tuesday with roughly 68% of the vote to Greg Murray’s 32%. With over 96% of precincts reporting, Richardson had captured 2,324 votes to Murray’s 1,097.

In comments to Talk Business & Politics Tuesday night, Richardson, the new At-Large Position 5 Board member-elect, said she plans to start her new position by participating in the search for a new Fort Smith Schools Superintendent to replace Dr. Benny Gooden, who announced his retirement in April.

Richardson said the new superintendent should be “someone that can relate to a diverse group of individuals throughout our community, someone willing to be engaged within the community, to know the residents and the students they’re educating and to really know our city.”

Richardson also hopes it will be a candidate “unafraid to challenge the status quo.”

Richardson’s fellow Board member-elect and Zone II incumbent McFerran fended off two challengers Tuesday night in Marc Werschem and Brian Means. McFerran secured over 55% of the vote to Means’ 28% and Werschem’s 17%. Actual votes for McFerran were 514, while Means received 260 and Werschem 159.

McFerran said in comments to Talk Business & Politics that she was “so glad because there’s so much I haven’t finished doing.” As to the Rebels issue and what this vote implies, “I’m not really looking on the past. I’m looking to the future now,” McFerran said.

She continued: “Good things are happening in our schools. We’re going to be getting a new superintendent. Belle Point is number one in the nation with its new tech program. I don’t think we need to look at the past. We need to look at the future, and I’m so excited there were things we started that we’ll now get to finish.”

Despite the opposition, McFerran said “both of my opponents have been very nice,” and that it’s “been an easy race” instead of a bitter one.

To any who had their feelings hurt by the Rebels mascot and fight song change, McFerran said the Rebels “will always be a part of Southside through the championships and accomplishments” of the past.

“We never got rid of that, we just made some changes,” McFerran said.