National politics and internal discontent have played out in Lucia Mar Unified School District since the pandemic, and that discord is impacting this election cycle, too.
Four of the district’s seven trustee areas have seats up for grabs in November.
On Sept. 21, 10 school board candidates representing parts of Arroyo Grande, Nipomo, and Oceano were supposed to participate in a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of San Luis Obispo County and field questions from voters.
Incumbents Andrea Naemi-Vergne and Eilene Pham, and challengers Sarah Moreland and Julie Tizzano didn’t attend the session, and the league disbanded the forum early because Arroyo Grande parents’ rights advocate Shannon Kessler arrived wearing a “Save Girls’ Sports” campaign T-shirt and reportedly refused to leave.
The nonpartisan league doesn’t allow campaign paraphernalia at its events.
Republican Kessler is running against 30th District Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) and caught the public’s attention in 2025 for criticizing Lucia Mar’s policy on transgender student athletes.
“The league is disappointed that the Lucia Mar candidates forum did not take place in front of an audience as planned. To ensure decorum, we found it necessary to ask the audience to leave,” the league told New Times.“We thank all the candidates who participated in the forum.”
Audience members submitted written questions to the league before leaving. Candidates answered those questions on camera, and the recording is available on SLO-Span and the league’s YouTube channel. Contenders whose opponents didn’t attend were only allowed to read their candidate statements.
New Times talked to those who are running about their vision for Lucia Mar.
Moving away from ‘distractions’
Groups of parents and community members from Arroyo Grande’s Harvest Church have urged the school board to align Lucia Mar’s policies with the Trump administration’s Title IX regulations.
The majority of the board rejected their idea to agendize a proposed resolution supporting “fairness” in interscholastic sports. The board also shot down attempts to remove Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Maia Kobabe’s graphic novel Gender Queer, and Sapphire’s novel Push from the Arroyo Grande High School library.
Trustee Area 6 candidate David Warren is ready to keep rejecting book bans if he wins.
‘Our job is to stay as neutral as we possibly can with respect to politics and just do what’s right by way of programs, curricular, facilities.’
—David Warren, candidate for Lucia Mar Trustee Area 6
“It’s critical that board members not get sucked into political culture wars, and that book banning thing can be one of those,” he said. “Our job is to stay as neutral as we possibly can with respect to politics and just do what’s right by way of programs, curricular, facilities.”
Nipomo resident Warren is a small claims judge at the SLO Superior Court. For years, he brought his legal experience to middle school and high school students as their mock trial attorney coach.
Warren told New Times that he hopes to encourage respectful and civil discourse. He stressed that school board leaders don’t have the power to make laws and can only enforce state laws.
Warren’s opponent is incumbent Pham, who voted in favor of pulling books from the Arroyo Grande High library. She didn’t attend the league’s forum, leaving Warren unable to respond to voters’ questions.
“I was disappointed because I believe strongly that those who are in office remain accountable,” he said. “What that means to me is showing up to explain what our perceptions are and why we voted as we did on certain things.”
Retired Nipomo High School math teacher Donna Kandel, who’s represented Trustee Area 7 since 2022, also told New Times that one of her values is to engage in civil discourse. She attended the forum with her opponent Traci Bognuda, who didn’t respond to New Times’ interview request.
“We may have a difference of opinion, but we had a lovely conversation. Our kids actually went to school together,” Kandel said. “I commend [Bognuda] for being willing to serve the community. … Nipomo has always been so kids-oriented and for the most part, really civil.”
Kandel wants to improve district infrastructure, implement better working conditions and compensation for teachers, and support every student’s right to learn and belong.
“We’ve seen some really unprecedented attacks over the last year and a half from individuals in the community who are carrying out a political agenda,” she said. “It’s critical … to support kids and not get involved in these kinds of national politics.”
Status quo change
Candidates across trustee Areas 3 and 5 are looking to shake up Lucia Mar’s current makeup.
At the league forum, Oceano parent Anna Cordero was the only Area 3 candidate present, while her opponents, incumbent Naemi-Vergne and Moreland, didn’t participate.
Naemi-Vergne told New Times her absence from the forum was due to a slip and fall in her bathroom. She has voted in favor of pulling books from the Arroyo Grande High School library.
Moreland didn’t respond to New Times.
Cordero won the Lucia Mar Teachers Association endorsement.
Her priorities are to provide before- and after-school care and reliable transportation for Lucia Mar students, invest in equitable policies that support educators and families, be accessible to the public, and protect students’ rights to a safe and inclusive learning environment.
Recently, Cordero spoke up at a school board meeting, alerting officials about the long waitlist at the Bright Futures before- and after-school program.
Arroyo Grande resident Melissa Johnson-Barash also secured the Teachers Association endorsement in her bid for Area 5. Colleen Martin has held the seat for 20 years.
Johnson-Barash teaches English in the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District. She called herself “the commonsense voice in the middle,” compared to Martin and their other opponent, Tizzano.
“Colleen Martin is a deeply entrenched Democratic incumbent, who is deeply unpopular due to her old ways and refusal to look at new solutions and cooperation with teachers,” she told New Times. “On the other side, Julie Tizzano, [a] challenger who is presumed to be far right, but no one knows because she refuses to show up to community forums.”
Johnson-Barash said she wants to exercise financial responsibility and invest in teachers and staff with competitive salaries to retain them. She’s also pushing for all school board meetings to be livestreamed, while moving the public comment period to the beginning.
Martin said constituents should vote for her because of her lengthy experience and dedication.
“I have a proven track record of leadership, and I know the Ed Code and I know the district policies to be able to follow the law,” she said.
Tizzano said she couldn’t attend the league forum because she was recovering from eye surgery.
The SLO County Democratic Party endorsed Warren, Kandel, Cordero, and Martin. The Republican Party of SLO County endorsed Tizzano, Pham, and Bognuda.
Paul Bischoff of Coastal California Construction Company is handling the campaigns of Tizzano, Pham, Bognuda, and Moreland. Bischoff lost a 2024 bid to represent Lucia Mar’s Trustee Area 1 to Don Stewart.
“I’m helping these candidates for the same reason I ran in 2024,” Bischoff said. “Public schools in California, and Lucia Mar in particular needs new leadership in a massive way.” ∆
Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Oct 1-8, 2026.
