The qualifying period for a number of seats on both the Andalusia City and Opp City school boards began Tuesday, but as of Wednesday afternoon, only five candidates had officially joined the races.

Current Opp Board of Education members Alan Thrash, Dr. Walter Burgess and William Hines have each qualified and will appear on the ballot next month.

In Andalusia, Dr. David McCalman and David Bryant have qualified in District 5 and District 3, respectively.

For Thrash, who represents District 1, it will be his first time running for the seat after being appointed by Opp Mayor John Bartholomew to replace Robert Young in November 2012, after Young relocated outside of the district.

In Opp, districts 1, 2 and 4 are up for election. District 2 is currently represented by Burgess, while Hines represents District 4.

Currently, Joe Nix represents District 1; David Bryant represents District 3; and David McCalman represents District 5.

The qualifying period for this year’s election will run through Tues., July 15, at 5 p.m.

The BOE election is scheduled to take place Tues., Aug. 26, with a runoff scheduled for Tues., Oct. 7, if needed.