The deadline for the extended filling period passed Wednesday evening with five North County school district elections making it onto the November ballot.

The Hancock Community College District, area 1 position, and the Guadalupe, Santa Maria-Bonita, Cuyama and Santa Ynez school districts all have more people running than there are positions available on their respective school boards.

There will be no competition in the Orcutt Union, Lucia Mar and Santa Maria high school districts, or for two of the three seats on the Hancock board, because the number of people who filed matches the number of vacancies.

For the Hancock Community College District, area 1 incumbent Henry M. Grennan has filed for re-election, and Samuel Marin has filed papers to challenge him.

Timothy Bennett and Bernard Jones, incumbents for areas 2 and 4 respectively, have filed, and no one filed to challenge them.

Guadalupe Union School District board president Olivia Alvarez will not seek re-election, though fellow incumbent Anna Maria Michaud has filed.

Two challengers - Maria Luisa Baro and George Alvarez - have filed to run for the board's two open seats, resulting in three people running for two positions.

Advertisement

In the Santa Maria-Bonita School District, there are five people running for three open seats.

Incumbent Mary Jane Diaz did not file for re-election, but Craig Beebe, Daniel Cadena and Ken Milo have filed their papers to run as challengers. Incumbents David Riloquio and Ike Ochoa filed for re-election.

Three positions are open and five people have filed in the Cuyama Unified School District race. Michael Mann and U.S. Wilson have filed to challenge incumbents Juan Gonzalez, Judith Kidd and Tamara Cloud who have also filed.

Incumbent Sharon Steele filed to run for re-election on the Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District board, while fellow incumbent and board president Joseph Dugan did not.

Christine Burtness, Sandie Mullin, Marc Owens, Bruce Porter, Mark Ream and Jourdi de Werd have filed as challengers.

That means seven people are running for two positions.

In the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District, incumbents Jack Garvin and Victor Tognazzini filed their papers, and won't face any challengers, according to the Elections Division.

Kathleen Meissner and Janet Zilli, incumbents in the two open seats on the Orcutt Union School District board, have both filed, and there are no challengers for either seat.

Meanwhile, in San Luis Obispo County, all three incumbents - board president Erik Howell and fellow trustees Dawn Hinchman and Dee Santos - have filed to defend their seats on the Lucia Mar Unified School District board of education.

August 14, 2008