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In the race for two seats on the Board of Trustees of the Portola Valley School District, Judith Ann Mendelsohn was elected Tuesday with 739 votes, according to the San Mateo County Elections Office.
In the latest count, Steve Humphreys leads Brad Turner by 14 votes, which may be enough to give Mr. Humphreys the second seat. The count is 645 for Mr. Humphreys and 631 for Mr. Turner.
In a district with 4,944 registered voters, just 1,173 ballots were cast, a turnout of 24 percent, the Elections Office reported.
County-wide, the turnout was 18 percent, election officials said.
The candidates
Ms. Mendelsohn, who has a mathematics degree from Smith College and master’s degree in education from the University of Massachusetts, is a math teacher at a new charter high school in San Jose.
Mr. Humphreys, who holds master’s degrees in business and engineering from Stanford, is CEO of Robotic Innovations Inc. He has been a classroom parent and vice president of the PTO.
Mr. Turner is an entrepreneur who started the company ImageStore, a Web-based medical image information management system for medical practices. He is a classroom volunteer and a board member of the Portola Valley Schools Foundation and the district’s technology steering committee.
Board member resigns
The two seats are for four-year terms on the school board.
Another factor is that a seated school board member, Donna Carano, resigned from the board Oct. 17, and the existing board has decided that the new board will make the decision to appoint someone to fill the position for the remaining two years of Ms. Carano’s term.
With Mr. Humphreys and Mr. Turner receiving such a close vote, the board might decide to name the candidate who comes in third to the vacant seat. However, there are further complications. Board member Karen Jordan, whose term expires this year, has said she may apply for the appointment.
Any registered voter in the district may apply for the appointment by Nov. 19. Applications are available at the district office at Corte Madera School, 4575 Alpine Road in Portola Valley, or by downloading an application from the district’s Web site: http://www.pvsd.net . Candidates will be interviewed in early December.
The appointment would be “provisional” in that registered voters in the district have 30 days from the appointment to petition the county superintendent of schools to hold a special election to fill the seat.
