Quick Take
Here’s a guide to which Santa Cruz County school board and Cabrillo College races will appear on the November ballot, which candidates will be appointed without an election and which seats have no candidates at all.
Want to serve on a local school board? Show up in Bonny Doon, the Mountain Elementary district or Scotts Valley and a seat might be yours for the taking.
While dozens of school board seats across Santa Cruz County and for Cabrillo College are up for grabs this November, several districts have no candidates at all. Many registered voters will see school board candidates on their ballots this November.
Bonny Doon Union Elementary School District has three seats up for election this year but had zero candidates for them – the most of any school board. Mountain Elementary and Scotts Valley Unified school districts also have seats that had zero candidates.
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Bonny Doon Union’s five sitting board members, as with Mountain Elementary and Scotts Valley Unified, now have until Nov. 3 to appoint candidates to those seats, according to Santa Cruz County Elections Clerk Tricia Webber.
Bonny Doon Superintendent Mike Heffner told Lookout that the incumbents in his district aren’t seeking reelection for a variety of reasons, including having children who aged out of the school as well as wanting a break from the work trustees have done spending Measure L bond funding. He said he doesn’t yet have candidates identified for the seats.
“What the new trustees don’t know is that the current board did most of the heavy lifting [of the bond work],” he said. “Now we’re going to break ground and do all the fun parts of it.”
Webber told Lookout that the number of uncontested seats across all of the county’s races is consistent with the number she’s seen over the past 10 to 12 years or so.
“It’s pretty normal,” she said. “Some years you see a few more, some years you see a few less.”
Webber told Lookout about the races that will appear on ballots, the races that won’t and what happens when a candidate decides they no longer want to run.
School board seats appearing on the ballot
The races listed below are all contested and will appear on the ballot this November.
One of these races, however, has a candidate who has announced her intention to not actively campaign for the race. Jennifer Schacher, a candidate in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Trustee Area 5 race, said she decided to step back from the race for family reasons.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to not actively campaign for Pajaro Valley Unified School District Trustee Area 5,” she said in a statement. “This was not an easy decision, but at this time, my family needs my full attention, and I believe that is where I need to focus.”
Webber told Lookout that because the deadline has already passed, however, Schacher’s name can’t be removed from the ballot.
So, voters living in PVUSD’s Area 5 district, which includes northwestern Watsonville and some outlying areas, will see Schacher’s name on their ballot, in addition to candidates Curt S. Wilcox and Alicia G. Jimenez.
Webber said the only scenario in which names can be removed from the ballot at this point is in the case of a death. She said that regardless of Schacher’s announcement, because her name will be on the ballot, voters can still vote for her and she can still win the race. If that were to occur, and Schacher were still intent on not serving, she would have to resign. Schacher didn’t immediately respond to Lookout when asked if she would serve if she won the election in the end.
The school district would then have a vacancy and would have to decide to fill it either by appointment or by special election. The seat has to be filled within 60 days of that person’s resignation.
Webber told Lookout she was aware of only one other candidate who had told her he planned not to actively campaign. Candidates who decide not to campaign are not required to inform the county elections office and there is no penalty for deciding to no longer actively campaign.
Several incumbents are not running for reelection. PVUSD Area 1 Trustee Joy Flynn, PVUSD Area 5 Trustee Olivia Flores and Cabrillo Community College Area 6 Trustee J. Dan Rothwell declined to seek reelection.
Pajaro Valley Unified School District – Trustee Area 1
- Andrew Goldenkranz
- Meilin Obinata
- Robin Sukow
Pajaro Valley Unified School District – Trustee Area 4
- Daniel Dodge Jr. (incumbent)
- Eriberto Estrada
Pajaro Valley Unified School District – Trustee Area 5
- Alicia G. Jiménez
- Curt S. Wilcox
- Jennifer Schacher (no longer actively campaigning)
Pajaro Valley Unified School District – Trustee Area 7
- Misty Navarro (incumbent)
- Mads Stockwell Realmuto
San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District – Trustee Area 4
- Gail Levine (incumbent)
- Ashleigh Hopkins
Soquel Union Elementary School District – Trustee Area 4
- Ariel Gray (incumbent)
- Andrea Locke
Cabrillo Community College District – Trustee Area 6
- Milissa Ales-Barnicoat
- Karen Cogswell
- Benjamin Finke
School board seats appointed in lieu of election
None of the races below will appear on the ballot because they fall into one of two different categories: the candidates ran unopposed or the race didn’t have enough candidates to fill the open seats.
Three school districts that are listed below have seats without any named candidates. Bonny Doon Union Elementary, Mountain Elementary and Scotts Valley Unified have three seats, one seat and one seat, respectively, that had zero candidates.
Webber said these three school districts must appoint candidates to those seats before Nov. 3. The candidates who are selected for those seats are appointed for the full term.
For the remaining school board races listed, all the named candidates are appointed to their seats for the full term.
Bonny Doon Union Elementary School District – three seats
No candidates
Mountain Elementary School District – one seat
No candidate
Mountain Elementary School District – two seats
- Michelle Jones
- Bryan Matthews
Scotts Valley Unified School District – two seats
- Roger Snyder
- No candidate for second seat
Happy Valley Elementary School District – three seats
- Cliff Hodges
- Jacob Willet
- Michelle Yegge
Live Oak Elementary School District – three seats
- Emily Avila
- Kristin Pfotenhauer
- Felicita Rasul
Pacific Elementary School District – two seats
- Diana Conner
- Chad Herendeen
San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District – two seats
- Trustee Area 1 Stacy Newsom Kerr
- Trustee Area 2 Mark Becker
Santa Cruz City Schools district – five seats
- Trustee Area 1 Kevin Grossman
- Trustee Area 2 Kyle Kelley
- Trustee Area 4 John Owen
- Trustee Area 5 Angela Meeker
- Trustee Area 6 Cindy Ruhsam
Soquel Union Elementary School District – one seat
- Trustee Area 3 Robert Dickenson
Cabrillo Community College District – three seats
- Trustee Area 1 Melinda Newfarmer
- Trustee Area 2 Adam Spickler
- Trustee Area 5 Francisco Estrada
Santa Cruz County Board of Education – four seats
- Trustee Area 1 Liann Reyes
- Trustee Area 2 Bruce Van Allen
- Trustee Area 4 Stacey Kyle
- Trustee Area 7 Abel Sanchez
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