With ballots still being counted, the races for three open seats on the Lucia Mar Unified School District board are close.
Incumbents Don Stewart, Dee Santos, and Vicki Meagher were leading by a couple hundred votes in their respective trustee areas, according to the most recent vote count totals, which the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office release on Nov. 8.
Santos said she’s feeling optimistic about her 169-vote lead over newcomer Paul Hively, who focused his campaign on parents’ rights and voting no on Measure H—a $143 million bond that would pay to upgrade, repair, and expand school facilities and infrastructure. The Area 2 trustee said her focus has always been and always will be the the kids.
Santos believes it’s important to ensure that Lucia Mar students get every option possible, including trade classes.
“If kids can get into some kind of trade and then they can further on their education and that’s amazing. Even like myself, people say, ‘Oh, you were just a hairdresser.’ Yeah, a hairdresser that had three salons at one time,” she said. “I don’t like people putting kids down because they don’t have a so-called college education.”
Gearing up for the new term, Santos said she wants to work on being more accessible to parents through community outreach and social media.
Stewart, running for reelection in Area 1, said his 394-vote lead over Paul Bischoff, who also built his campaign around parents’ rights, shows that “Lucia Mar voters want us to focus on what really matters—student safety, academic excellence, and fiscal accountability—versus some of the culture war topics.”
Bischoff didn’t respond to New Times’ request to comment.
Not wanting to get too excited too early, Meagher said a large portion of the ballots are still being counted, and she’s most worried about Measure H-24 not passing.
The Measure needs 55 percent of the votes to pass and was sitting at 53.5 percent in favor, with more votes still being counted.
“We’re going to need to reevaluate our whole facilities and how we’re going to move forward. We’re probably going to make some adjustments in our maintenance budget to help cover emergencies and that kind of thing,” she said.
Aiming for reelection in Area 4, Meagher was running against Mike Fuller, who aimed to rebuild the school board alongside the two other challengers by focusing on parents’ rights and improving educational standards.
Meagher currently leads by 106 votes.
She added that talk of dismantling the U.S. Department of Education is concerning and something to prepare for. Δ
This article appears in Nov 14-24, 2024.
