2 weeks Ago
The early results for Santa Clarita Valley school board seats seemed to be holding on Wednesday as only one race has flipped thus far. That would be the seat on the Santa Clarita Community College District board of trustees, which oversees College of the Canyons, representing Trustee Area No. 2.
Challenger Scott Schauer has taken the lead in that race over incumbent Edel Alonso, the current board president, by 350 votes as of Wednesday afternoon. All other races — two in the William S. Hart Union High School District and one each in the Castaic Union School District, Saugus Union School District and Newhall School District — are staying status quo, though some candidates have seen their leads grow.
Thus far, the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office is reporting that 2,696,482 ballots have been counted, representing 47% of registered voters.
Updates are expected every day by 5 p.m. through Friday, with updates again next week Monday through Friday.
Weekend updates will be provided as needed during that time. Wednesday’s update includes an additional 80,941 ballots counted. The results are set to be certified by the county on Dec.
5. Here’s how the races look as of Wednesday afternoon. COC Schauer currently has nearly 51% of the counted votes as his opposition slate to the incumbents and their fellow candidates is in the lead for all four seats on the ballot.
Fred Arnold has a lead of over 2,100 votes over Andrew Taban in the race to represent Trustee Area No. 3. Tasha Hoggatt, not part of either slate, is in a distant third.
In a phone interview Wednesday afternoon, Arnold said he wants to “respect the process and understand that every vote deserves to be counted” before claiming any victory. “There’s no celebration,” Arnold said. Also in the lead are Sharlene Johnson and Darlene Trevino, part of the slate with Schauer and Arnold that has the backing of members of the business community in the SCV.
Johnson is leading incumbent Jerry Danielsen in the race to represent Trustee Area No. 4 by 1,800 votes, while Trevino has 2,800 more votes than Michelle Kampbell as they battle to represent Trustee Area No. 1.
“The community has spoken,” Arnold said. “They really want members of the community to be actively involved in policy decisions for our community college. The most important thing moving forward is that we let the staff and faculty know that we’re excited to work with them, we’re excited to collaborate on how to best serve all students and we’re excited to go through the process of hiring a full-time president.
We’re excited to put forward a vision for the next years for our college.” He added that no matter how the races end up shaking out and who ultimately will be on the board, that collaboration “has to happen” to “serve and lead the students, community and the faculty and staff.” Hart district There have been no changes in the two races for seats on the Hart district governing board.
Incumbent Erin Wilson still leads firmly in the race to represent Trustee Area No. 4 after being appointed to the seat last year. She currently has over 5,300 more votes than challenger Eric Anderson and is claiming victory.
“I’m excited to get to work,” Wilson said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. “I’ve never stopped working, but I feel like the campaign, while it was so much effort, I appreciated the opportunity that it gave me to be able to connect with so many members of the community. That’s my job, is to be their voice and their link to the district.
“It’s all about educating, engaging and elevating, and that’s in so many different ways,” she continued. “I’m excited about us getting stronger in literacy and helping students not only be able to read better, but enjoy it more ..
. Engaging also goes along with our college and career readiness. We have so much going on with our pathways and connecting with the business community.
With the many talented individuals we have in our community, they have so much to offer to our younger generation, and if we use that to the best of our ability, then we will see an elevation of our students.” In the race for the Trustee Area No. 1 seat, challenger Aakash Ahuja has a slightly less commanding lead but is ahead of fellow challenger Gloria Mercado-Fortine by 1,200 votes.
Incumbent Linda Storli, the current board president, is trailing in third place, over 900 votes behind Mercado-Fortine and 2,000 behind Ahuja. “Our campaign is very optimistic and I sincerely hope that the trend continues and our lead goes up, but we’ll certainly wait for some more results to come before we can say anything for sure,” Ahuja said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. “But I would like to thank all the supporters and all the volunteers.
We have worked extremely hard to put us in such a strong position.” Saugus district Seeking to keep her seat representing Trustee Area No. 3, Saugus district governing board member Katherine Cooper currently leads challenger Mark White by 1,200 votes.
Her 5,026 total votes represent nearly 57% of those counted. “Obviously I’m disappointed,” White said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. “I thought I would have done better.
” White said he isn’t conceding just yet, but looking at the raw votes, it seems to be a large hurdle to cross. He did add that he was pleased to see that many local Republicans have either come out victorious or are looking strong after two days of reporting. While that is the only contested board race in the 2024 General Election, the district also has Measure N, a $187 million bond measure that would help to retrofit and upgrade facilities.
It is currently projected to not pass with only 20,562 votes going toward it, or 46.97%. It would need 55% to pass.
“The results aren’t all in yet, but I’m not too optimistic at this point,” Saugus district governing board President Matt Watson said in a phone interview Wednesday. “We’re disappointed. There are some important projects that our school sites need, specifically the retrofitting as outlined in (Assembly Bill) 300.
” White was a vocal opponent of the bond measure, saying it was rushed just the week before the deadline to have it on the ballot, and the ballot language was too vague. “I think the district and board wasted $350,000 on Measure N, and the community needs to be more involved and (the district) needs to be way more transparent with how they want to raise bond funds with price tags attached,” White said. Watson said further discussions will be had as to how the district will seek to fund these projects in the future, and that the community will be involved.
He added that though the district wants to improve facilities, there is nothing to show that students are being housed in unsafe buildings. “This was just a requirement by the state to take our schools to a higher level of safety code,” Watson said. Newhall district It doesn’t look like the Newhall district governing board will be any different as Sue Solomon, the current board president, is leading challenger Mayra Cuellar by nearly 1,500 votes.
Solomon currently has nearly 65% of the vote for the seat representing Trustee Area No. 5. Solomon said she feels “fairly confident” but is waiting for more votes to be counted before making an official declaration.
“I think my message was reflective of the work that I’ve been doing for 25 years as a school board member and PTA volunteer I our community,” Solomon said in a phone interview Wednesday. “I see this as a renewal of the relationship between the Newhall community and myself and to do good things for kids.” Castaic district Erik Richardson currently leads the race to represent Trustee Area A in the Castaic district.
He’s up by more than 350 votes over Steven Sansone and has nearly 60% of the votes. Sansone said in a phone interview Wednesday that he isn’t quite conceding yet as he wants to wait a few more days to see what transpires. Richardson said Wednesday he does feel comfortable claiming this as a victory.
“I’m feeling super excited for the opportunity to represent the district,” Richardson said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. “It was just a grassroots effort, knocking on doors, and then the support from the community, the teachers, kind of just that old-school approach and letting people know who I am and what I stand for.” The incumbent for that seat, current board President Janene Maxon, did not seek reelection.
“It’s really disappointing at this point that I wasn’t able to resonate with the electorate as much as I thought I would,” Sansone said..
