The Cupertino Courier

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Nunes, Wilson and Ho win seats in contentious school board race

By Erin Hussey

With results still being finalized for the Fremont Union High School District board election on Nov. 7, the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters reported the unofficial results this morning.

With 99,186 tailed votes, incumbent Barbara Nunes took the first of the three seats, with 22,397 or 22.58 percent of those votes. "I think there is some advantage to being an educator," she said. Nunes, who has worked in education for 37 years, including serving as principal at Cupertino High School, was also the early leader when she ran in 2001.

"I think people know that you have had some experience in the system, so thatÕs a plus."

Entering her second term as a trustee, Nunes is looking to work with the board to gain back the trust of the public .

"I am really going to work hard to have the board work together as a team," she said. "We are going to be focused on the students in the future."

Challenger William (Bill) Wilson claimed the second board seat with 18,507 votes (18.66 percent).

"I was reasonably optimistic because we had a lot of people really helping out," Wilson said. As one of the three challengers vying for a seat, Wilson decided to run because he believed that while the Fremont district has excellent attributes, the board itself was sometimes acting against those.

"I think that a lot of people were aware of what is happening and clearly decided that it is important to change directions," he said. Like Nunes, Wilson is looking to bring back the boardÕs focus to education and heal the strains on the community caused by months of heated controversy over resigning teachers, firing the superintendent and recent lawsuits.

The third and final seat went to Kathryn Ho, with challenger Don Mackenzie, only 177 votes behind her. Ho, who has served on the board for eight years, was granted a third term with 17,777 votes or 17.92 percent.

"I knew that is was going to be very close," she said. Ho, who describes herself as a bridge between schools and families, wants the board to work better together for the benefit of all the students. "We always have to keep the studentsÕ best interest in mind." Although MackenzieÕs 17,600 votes (17.74 percent) were unable to claim him a seat, he expects to still remain involved with the school district.

"I ran because I am interested in schools and interested in our students," he said. "I did not run because I had kids in the school or anything like that, but I hope to continue to be involved in one way or another."

Challenger Michael Anthony Flores and board president Avrum (Avie) Katz fell to the bottom rung with only 12,011 votes (12.11 percent) and 10,894 (10.98 percent) respectably.

The next board meeting takes place Nov. 21 at 4 p.m. For more information on upcoming meetings, visit www.fuhsd.org/agendas.htm.