Challengers do well in area school board races

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In a fairly quiet election with no major issues, voters nonetheless aimed to knock off incumbents in the Turlock Unified School District election.

Challengers Josh Bernard, Lori Crivelli and Bob Weaver had the early lead over board members Timm LaValle, Tami Muniz and Felica Renshaw.

Weaver, a fieldman for an agriculture supply company, and Bernard, a Hilmar dairyman, led the field, with each getting about 22 percent of the Stanislaus County vote. Crivelli was third, with 16 percent of the vote, nearly 300 votes ahead of LaVelle, the top incumbent. The trend was similar in Merced County, a small swath of which is in the Turlock school district.

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Weaver said the difference was legwork.

"I spent a lot of time knocking on doors and talking to people," he said. "Since early August, four to five hours every Saturday and Sunday, I've been out there."

Weaver identified the continuing struggle with a beleaguered budget as his top priority for the district, one of the few that got through the year without layoffs.

For now, though, he has to make it up to his wife and kids for the vacations he missed while campaigning so heavily.

"We sacrificed a lot of family outings," he said. "We've got some things planned."

Newman-Crows Landing

Challengers also were carrying the day in the Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District, where a book loomed large in a board election that drew seven candidates for two seats.

Challengers Kerry McWilliams and Paul Wallace led in early returns, over incumbents Derek Solano and Barbara Alexander. Solano and Alexander defended their votes to remove Latino coming-of-age novel "Bless Me, Ultima" from a sophomore reading list, though it remains in Orestimba High School's library. McWilliams and Wallace said that decision was wrong.

Oakdale

One of the biggest fund-raisers countywide for Tuesday's election was leading the pack as she challenged three incumbents for a seat on the Oakdale Unified School District board of trustees.

Diane Gilbert, a professional fund-raising consultant, was narrowly ahead of incumbents Mike House, William W. Dyer and Rick Jones for one of three seats on the school board, which oversees a district of 5,200 students.

With 56 percent of Oakdale precincts counted, she had 1,714 votes, or 26.71 percent; House had 1,633 votes, or 25.44 percent; Dyer had 1,576 votes, or 24.56 percent; and Jones had 1,460 votes, or 22.75 percent.

Gilbert has raised $24,440 for her campaign. She loaned herself an additional $5,000, giving her about $21,000 more than her three opponents combined.

Ceres

In the Ceres Unified School District, two incumbent board members were going down to defeat.

In the District 3 race, Valli Wigt, a retired school teacher, was leading incumbent Teresa Guerrero, 362 votes to 178. In District 5, Lourdes Perez, with 300 votes, held the lead over appointed board member Edgar Romo, with 144.

In the other Ceres schools race, in which voters choose a board member at large, incumbent Betty Sue Davis was beating Brian Kline with 1,402 votes to his 1,097.

Waterford

Incumbents Timothy Bomgardner and Sheila Collins appear to have retained their governing board seats and may be joined by Waterford City Councilman Jim Weaver on the five-person board.

With two-thirds of the votes counted, Bomgardner had been named on 436 ballots, Collins 333 and Weaver 306. Weaver, who will retire later this month as vice president of Pacific Southwest Container, has indicated he would resign his council post if elected to the school board.