Choices made for Modesto-area schools

Voters on Tuesday picked candidates in several Stanislaus County school districts.

In the Turlock Unified School District, incumbents Eileen Hamilton and Frank Lima were leading comfortably in a five-person race for four seats.

Newcomers Grady L. Welch and Harinder Gre-wal were third and fourth respectively. Hamilton, a retired teacher and aide, and Lima, a lawyer, had 2,714 votes and 2,701 votes, respectively.

Welch, a parole agent for the state Department of Corrections, had 1,852 votes. Grewal, a senior agricultural and weights and measures inspector for Stanislaus County, was in a tight race for fourth with 1,852 votes. Trailing just less than 40 votes behind was Andrew Johnson, an administrative analyst, with 1,813. Johnson opted out of the race shortly after filing when he learned that he and his wife are expecting their third child.

In the Sylvan Union School District, David Collins and Jennifer Miyakawa were ahead in a four-person race for two seats.

Collins, a youth services program coordinator for the Center for Human Serv-ices, had 2,589 votes, and Miyakawa, a community volunteer and former teacher, had 2,376 votes. Challenger Chuck Rivera, a firefighter, was close behind in third with 2,296 votes.

The Ceres Unified School District race had former trustee Teresa Guerrero leading in a two-person race for one at-large seat.

Guerrero, executive director of the nonprofit Parent Institute For Quality Education, sat on the board from 2005 to 2009. She was running against legal process server Brian Kline, who ran for the board in 2009 and lost. Guerrero had 1,476 votes to Kline's 1,246.

In the Oakdale Joint Unified School District, incumbent Mike Tozzi and political newcomer Tina Shats-well were leading in separate races for two seats.

Tozzi, executive officer of the Stanislaus County Superior Court, led with 1,583 votes, followed by Synthia Jones with 1,229 votes.

Shatswell, a substitute teacher and business manager, was leading with 1,503 votes, followed by incumbent Rick W. Jones with 1,462 votes.

In the Stanislaus Union School District, challengers Susan Elliott and Jeff Mc-Kay were leading in a four-person race for two seats.

Elliott, a retired Modesto High School English teacher, was on top with 1,094 votes, followed by McKay, a business owner, with 925. Tom Freeman was in third with 884, followed by the only incumbent, Karin Reenstierna, with 571.

In the Riverbank Unified School District, incumbent John Mitchell and Steve Walker led in a four-person race for two seats.

Mitchell, a former Stanislaus County sheriff's deputy, was ahead with 336 votes, followed by Walker, a network administrator, with 274 votes. Michelle De Croix Guzman was in third with 197 votes, followed by Angie Timpone with 161.

In the Patterson Joint Unified School District, Kay Silva Johnson, who co-owns a landscaping business, led with 555 votes, followed by incumbent Bruce Kelly with 416, challenger Amy Hussar with 333 and challenger Elisa Pinedo-Medina with 300.

Not far behind in a dead-heat are challengers Jose Reynoso with 293 votes and Alex Saballos with 291 votes, followed by incumbent Gilbert Lujan with 281.

Bee staff writer Rosalio Ahumada can be reached at rahumada@modbee.com or 578-2394.

Bee staff writer Marijke Rowland can be reached at mrowland@modbee.com or 578-2284.