Most Tucson-area school districts may see at least one incumbent return to their governing boards, according to early results posted Wednesday by the Pima County Elections Department.
Voters in the Catalina Foothills School District, which saw six candidates vying for three open seats, swayed toward two incumbents and one new face by a wide margin in preliminary results.
Incumbents Amy Krauss and Amy Bhola took the lead with 25% and 24%, respectively, while Gina Mehmert held her own with 23%. The three had campaigned as the slate Thrive4CFSD, which aimed to continue the work that the district and governing board are currently doing.
βAs parents who have been invested in CFSD for a long time, we know that our constituents value the broad, innovative and rigorous curriculum that CFSD is known for. We believe our positive campaign resonated with voters,β the Thrive4CFSD candidates wrote in a joint statement.
βWe are hopeful the early results will be confirmed soon, and we look forward to serving the CFSD community as governing board members for the next four years,β they added.
Candidates Bill Morgan, Grace Jasin and Bart Pemberton trailed behind, each with about 9% of the votes in early results. They had also campaigned together with the slogan βGetting Back to Basics,β and insisted that the district needs change and improvement in various areas.
Amphitheater
At the Amphitheater School District, incumbents Susan Zibrat and Matt Kopec were also leading over the other two candidates. Zibrat had taken 29% of the votes, while Kopec had 28%.
Candidates Mona Gibson and Jeff Utsch had 23% and 19%, respectively. The district has only two open board seats.
Zibrat was appointed to fill a vacancy on the board in 2017 and was elected to her current term in 2018. Kopec is seeking re-election for a second term.
Flowing Wells
Early results for the Flowing Wells Unified School District show incumbent Kristine Hammar leading in first with 37% of the votes, followed by newcomer Brianna Hamilton with 32%.
Incumbent Kevin Daily was trailing with 30% of the votes in preliminary results. The three candidates are vying for two open seats on the board.
Hammar is seeking a second term. Daily has served on the board continuously since 2000. A campaign website for Hamilton says she is a mother of three children, an insurance agent and a Realtor.
Marana
Tom Carlson, the only incumbent in the Marana Unified School District race, took the lead over the other three candidates with 28% of the votes, according to early results.
Kathryn Mikronis followed in second with 26%, Abbie Hlavacek in third with nearly 25% and Mikail Robert in fourth with 20%.
The four are vying for two open seats on the board. Board member John Lewandowski, whose term ends this year, did not seek re-election.
Sahuarita
Candidate Raul Rodriguez and incumbent John Sparks were virtually tied for the lead, based on early results for the Sahuarita Unified School District governing board, which has two open seats.
Rodriguez had 23.9% of the votes, while Sparks had 23.8%. The other candidates included Kathryn Zanin with 22.8%, Amy Petersmarck with 19% and incumbent Kevin Opalka with 10%.
Tucson Unified
Early results for the Tucson Unified School District, which was one of the few races with no incumbents seeking re-election, showed Jennifer Eckstrom taking a big lead over the five other candidates with 27% of the votes.
Val Romero was coming in second with 18% of the votes. Rebecca Zapien trailed behind with 17%, Luis Armando Gonzales had 14%, William Soland had 11% and Brieanna Chillious had 10%.
The six candidates are vying for two open seats on the board. Current board members Adelita Grijalva and Leila Counts, whose terms end this year, decided not to seek re-election.
Vail
The Vail Unified School District, which also saw no incumbents on the ballot, showed that early results were favoring Jennifer Anderson with 25% of the votes in early results for one of two open seats.
Edward Buster was trailing in second with 23%, followed by Anastasia Tsatsakis with nearly 19%, Leroy Smith with 15%, Geraldine Kleber with 10% and Jayme Morris with nearly 7%.
Voters will choose two board members out of the pool of six candidates.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, fourth- and eighth-graders have fallen behind in reading and math.
