Quick Take
After a 4 p.m. Tuesday vote drop, Stephanie Espinola, Gary Redenbacher and Erica Turzak won seats on the Scotts Valley Unified School District governing board. Michael Schulman, Mitali Weiglein and Tuka Gafari were unsuccessful.
Tuesday, Dec. 3, 4:30 p.m. — Newcomers Stephanie Espinola, Gary Redenbacher and Erica Turzak won seats on the Scotts Valley Unified School District governing board. Candidates Michael Schulman, Mitali Weiglein and Tuka Gafari were unsuccessful.
Espinola received 19.5% of votes, Redenbacher received 18.8% and Turzak received 18.7% of votes with the Tuesday afternoon vote drop.
County Clerk Tricia Webber’s office said Tuesday’s update was the last and the results are now official. All totaled countywide,136,505 votes have been counted.
Schulman received 17.7% of the votes, Weiglein received 15.3%, and Gafari received 9.6% of the votes.
The district serves about 2,168 students at two elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. This year, Scotts Valley High School is celebrating its 25th year.
The Scotts Valley Unified school district boundary has 13,571 registered voters.
Trustees are responsible for guiding the direction of the district through challenges such as budget cuts, hiring a superintendent or placing a bond measure on a ballot – as the board did this year.
In addition to selecting school board members Nov. 5, voters in the district will also be asked to approve Measure O, an $85 million bond measure that would fund repairs and renovations at all of its schools.
Similar to the challenges school districts across the state have been facing, Scotts Valley Unified School District is struggling with declining enrollment and budget challenges, teacher retention and the youth mental health crisis.
Schulman and Weiglein were the only incumbents in the race.
Schulman, 66, has served on the board since 2008. He considered not running again this year but opted to stay in the race because he felt that not enough candidates who are parents stepped forward to run with the right qualifications. His goals include finishing up infrastructure improvements if Measure O passes and continuing the district’s efforts to improve inclusivity.
Weiglein, 38, moved to the district in 2021 and was appointed to the board in January 2023. Her daughter is in third grade and her son is in first grade at Brook Knoll Elementary.
Weiglein ran on a platform of continuing to make the district’s schools more inclusive and expanding mental health services. She said she hopes to continue addressing challenges such as declining enrollment, improving facilities – she supported Measure O – and teacher retention and recruitment.
Both Turzak and Espinola ran on campaigns that included improving pay for teachers and staff and were endorsed by the district’s teachers union.
Turzak, 47, and her family moved to Scotts Valley in 2019. A business consultant for startups and small businesses, she has a fourth-grade son at Vine Hill Elementary and an 11th-grade daughter at the high school. During the campaign, Turzak also advocated for addressing declining enrollment and said she wanted to support efforts to create a more inclusive school environment and was in favor of Measure O to renovate aging school infrastructure.
Espinola, 59, is a former instructional aide at Scotts Valley Middle School, where she worked with special education students for about seven years. She ran on addressing student and staff retention, continuing to improve the school’s climate of inclusion. She also supported improving the school facilities, including backing Measure O.
Redenbacher, 69, a lawyer and grandson of popcorn magnate Orville Redenbacher, has said he would prioritize advocating for a better school funding formula from the state, establishing a policy for cellphone use and other distracting technology in schools, increasing the options for elective courses and finding funding for athletic programs. He also supported Measure O, the district’s bonding proposal.
Gafari, 55, is a computer programmer with two kids, 7 and 9, both attending Brook Knoll Elementary.
During the race, he said he hoped to figure out how to better fund schools and wants to encourage earlier financial education, ban cellphones and develop a teacher housing program. He also said he’s uncomfortable with schools having all-gender bathrooms as the only option.
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