By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • By the time the filing period closed Friday at noon, 10 people had filed to seek election to three available seats on the Hoke County Board of Education.

The candidates who filed to run are Catherine Blue, Deltarina Carr, Ruben Castellon, Tony Cunningham Sr., Tonika Dunbar, John Harry, Micheaux Hollingsworth, Christopher Leach, Della Maynor and Angela Southerland.

Voters will be able to select three out of the 10 school board candidates on the ballot in November. The school board race is nonpartisan and therefore does not have a partisan primary.

Of the 10 candidates, only one is a sitting school board member. Maynor is the only incumbent who filed to seek another term in office. Incumbents Barbara Buie and Irish Pickett, who have both served as board leadership during their terms in office, chose not to run for re-election.

Buie said she hopes to see the school district move forward and get “some new energy and some new blood.”

“I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the board. It was a true learning experience. I met so many wonderful people all across the nation at different conferences. I think that I’ve done what I could do,” she said. “If I thought that there was more I could do, I would have run from now to doomsday…I want to see the school move forward, and I think it’s time for some new energy and some new blood.”

Pickett also confirmed Monday that she decided not to run for another term on the school board. She has served as a member of the Hoke County Board of Education for almost 16 years.

Multiple elected positions in Hoke County leadership are up for a vote this fall. Besides the three seats on the school board, there are also three seats on the Hoke County Board of Commissioners, the office of Hoke County Sheriff, as well as state and federal representation up for decision.