ALL The Delaware School Board Election Results

A day that saw victory and defeat for many ended at 8pm last evening as the polls closed for another school board election season.  Below are the results for all the Delaware school board elections.  Congrats to the victors.  For those who lost, I’ve been there.  It sucks.  You just have to pick yourself up again and move on.  Some run again and some we don’t hear from again in that arena.  Voter turnout was mixed in some districts.  Altogether though, given the population of various districts and the importance of local school board elections, they could all use more citizens voting.

Using Capital as an example, 239 votes were cast.  Capital has over 5,000 students.  It is in the heart of Dover.  Turnout last year was around the 500 mark.  Folks say signs don’t vote, which could be true, but they also bring constant awareness about the election date.  Last year, myself and my two opponents littered the town with campaign signs.  This year, I barely saw any.  I heard some say they knew nothing about either of the candidates so why even bother voting.  That is when you seek that candidate out if they don’t have an online presence.

I spent the evening up in Red Clay territory.  Both of the schools I went to had events going on that night.  Not in an attempt to dissuade voters, but to draw more people out to vote.  As a result, Red Clay had the largest number of voters out of all the districts with over 2,100 votes cast.  In my eyes, that is still low turnout given Red Clay’s student population, but it shows how community participation can lead to higher numbers in an election.

We need to elect our State Board of Education members like this.  None of this “Governor appointed” stuff.  Statewide elections, for each seat.

Without further ado, here are the “unofficial” results of the 2017 Delaware School Board elections.

Appoquinimink

Charlisa Edelin: 301 votes, Keinna McKnight: 206, Trevor Tucker: 24 votes

Brandywine

John Skrobot III: 402 votes, Alma Melina Gillis: 332

Caesar Rodney

David Failing: 495, Tawanna Prophet-Brinkley: 126, Alan Claycomb: 57

Capital

Joan Loewenstein-Engel: 154, Andy Ortiz: 85

Christina, District B

Angela Mitchell: 480, Justin Day: 457, Monica Moriak: 232, Karen Sobotker: 72

Christina, District G

Meredith Griffin Jr.: 828, Jeff Day: 369, Kimara Smith: 170

Lake Forest

Phillip Thomas: 294, Stephanie Justiano Johnson: 220, Austin Auen: 59

Milford

Ronald Evans: 227, Michael McKain: 124, Jason Miller: 96, Michael Firch: 79, Michael Wells: 52

Red Clay

Ashley Sabo: 1,142, Henry Clampitt: 833, Thomas Pappenhagen: 152

Seaford

Michael Kraft: 314, John Hanenfeld: 198

Smyrna

Vetra Evans-Gunter: 292, Karin Sweeney: 31

Woodbridge

Paul Breeding: 209, Darrynn Harris: 11

Only One More Day To Vote In DSEA Election For President and Vice-President

The voting for the Delaware State Education Association leadership officially ends tomorrow, January 23rd.  All ballots must be in as per the DSEA election website.  Initial results will be shared with the Executive Director and Business Manager of DSEA on Thursday, and preliminary results will be announced on January 27th.  If there is a challenge based on the preliminary results, that would have to be in by February 3rd.  At the DSEA Executive Board meeting on February 16th, the results will be officially ratified.

There are four races for the President slot and two for the Vice-President.  For President, there is Karen Crouse, Mike Matthews, Danny Rufo, and Dom Zaffora.  For Vice-President, there is Jackie Kook and Stephanie Ingraham.  Two are running on a “ticket” per se, but that ticket could be divided pending the results.  Those “tickets” are Matthews/Kook and Crouse/Ingraham.

What is at stake with this election?  The teacher’s union in Delaware would have a lot to contend with in the coming years.  The three-year terms would usher in the new Every Student Succeeds Act in Delaware along with mounting budget issues that will almost assuredly result in education cuts along the way.  Add on the new Carney administration and a promise from Governor John Carney to make the Delaware Department of Education less of an accountability factory and more of a resource center for districts and charters.  However, much of that will depend on the final approved ESSA state plan.  Even though ESSA was meant to eliminate a lot of the federal oversight, accountability regulations won’t change things that much.  And if history is an indicator, the Delaware DOE loves accountability.  The role of teacher evaluations will always be a major issue with DSEA.  Other potential factors affecting them, depending on the state budget, could be the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission redistricting plan or the possibility of consolidating districts around the state becoming more than a discussion point.

Red Clay Consolidated School District Referendum Passes

According to Mike Matthews on Facebook, the Red Clay Referendum passed, 6,355 Yes votes and 5,484 No votes.  Mike actually updated the vote tallies from each school as they were announced.  To many observers, it appeared elementary schools were getting many yes victories, and high schools were the opposite.