Preliminary general election results indicate that education in San Luis Obispo County’s southern region could see an influx of new candidates. But it’s still early, according to the county Clerk-Recorder’s office, as workers still have “tens of thousands of ballots left to count.”
The most recent count was published around 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 9. The results will be updated on Nov. 12.
In Cuesta College’s trustee area 4—spanning Arroyo Grande, Oceano, and Nipomo—incumbent Pete Sysak leads the race against newcomer Adrienne GarcÃa-Specht. Sysak held almost 52 percent of the votes counted thus far, while GarcÃa-Specht had 48 percent of them. They were separated by 376 votes, and the challenger was hopeful on Nov. 9.
“I still see a path to victory here,” GarcÃa-Specht said. “I’m proud that the first results are so close. It does show that people want change and better representation. I’ve never run for anything before, so I’m shocked that it’s this close.”
She decided to run against Sysak after he shared posts on his personal Facebook page that contained openly discriminatory content against a variety of minority groups. Sysak told New Times he feels confident he’ll hold the lead.
“I’m pretty positive right now. But mail-in voting takes a long time to count. It’s hard to say which precincts in South County are still outstanding,” he said.
While early results for the two are down to the wire, the gap is wider for the candidates in the Lucia Mar Unified School District races. The largest school district in SLO County, the race to fill Lucia Mar’s board reflected its size, with 10 people running for four seats.
In Lucia Mar’s trustee area 3, Andrea Naemi-Vergne led in early vote counts with almost 40 percent of votes. Her two opponents, Daevin Thomas and Ashley Smeester, trailed behind with roughly 32 percent and 29 percent of initial votes, respectively.
Longtime area 5 incumbent Colleen Martin held almost 62 percent of the early tally against retired county chief deputy probation officer Gary Joralemon’s 38 percent.
“I’m feeling very good. I’m hoping this can put the recall to rest,” Martin said.
Martin was one of three board members who faced the ire of the parent-led Central Coast Families for Education Reform. The group unsuccessfully tried to recall Martin and her colleagues last year for their stances on masking and school shutdowns. Martin said she celebrated the preliminary count by attending Arroyo Grande Mayor Carren Ray Russom’s election watch party on the night of Nov. 8.
Martin said she’s now gearing up to attend the annual school board education conference in San Diego after Thanksgiving. There, she’ll mentor new faces on the Lucia Mar school board through workshops offered for people who have no previous experience working in such an office.
Two such new candidates are Roxana Maldonado, a Spanish teacher in the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District, and retired Nipomo High School math teacher Donna Kandel.
Maldonado leads the area 6 race with 43.7 percent of calculated votes, closely followed by Eilene Pham with 40.5 percent and Scott Bloom with nearly 16 percent.
Kandel received 66 percent of the early voting total for area 7, pulling ahead of Luke Davis who got 33.5 percent. If she ultimately succeeds, Kandel said she’ll prioritize student safety, and hiring and retaining teachers for the school district.
“I’ve communicated with my opponent, and I’m very grateful to have been able to run a race that was positive and civil,” Kandel said. “We both felt we can’t do much about the vitriol and politics these days, but we can choose to run a campaign with civility.” Δ
This article appears in Nov 10-20, 2022.