Patterson Unified board may have 5 new faces

James Leonard in Area 7 and Jeffrey Nosek in Area 5 appear set for election in the Patterson Unified School District race. The third contested race was only three votes apart as of Wednesday afternoon.

No matter who wins, the Patterson Joint Unified School District Board seated in December will have a majority of new faces. Four incumbents on the seven-member board decided not to run for another term.

The only incumbent to run, board President Jose Reynoso, was lagging challenger Nosek in Area 5 at the western edge of town. With 100 percent of precincts counted, Nosek had 57 votes to Reynoso’s 46.

However, absentee voting could change any of the races, and thousands of votes remained uncounted Wednesday afternoon. It was unclear how many of those would include votes from the Patterson district.

Reached Tuesday night, Leonard said if his lead held, his first action as a school board member would be to educate himself.

“(The district) held an information meeting for the candidates and told us it takes a year or two to get your feet wet and know what you’re doing,” he said. With up to five new members, he added, the board would have a steep learning curve. “I want to get in there and learn the ropes, learn the budget,” Leonard said.

“I think the district is doing a good job, by and large,” he said. “I’ll be going in with priorities, rather than an agenda.”

Leonard and Jeff Cross sought the southwestern Area 7 seat.

During the campaign Leonard said his top priority is the health and safety of students, with bullying on his radar. Cross said he hoped to beef up the district’s musical activities and add career courses.

In his campaign, Nosek said he wanted to see more advanced courses, career courses and preschool options. Reynoso said he supported the district’s move toward computers for students and wanted more community involvement at board meetings.

For the two-year seat serving Area 4, Angelica Reyes and Alyssa Homen were neck and neck – 36 for Homen to 39 for Reyes.

Reyes advocated adding more advanced math courses and speech teams to increase students’ chances of getting into top-tier universities. Homen wanted to see more support staff at schools and an indoor eating area built at Creekside Middle School.

Two seats will be filled by uncontested races. Firefighter Mike McLaughlin, 48, will take the Area 1 seat, and student Carlos Gustavo Fierros, 30, will represent Area 3 for the next four years.

Patterson Unified has refurbished its oldest schools in recent years and embarked on career training pathways tied to area employment needs and aligned to Modesto Junior College programs. This year its middle school students got Chromebook devices and over the next two years the district will roll out laptops for high schoolers. The district signed off on a 2015-16 contract with its teachers last month.

This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 12:12 AM with the headline "Patterson Unified board may have 5 new faces."