Trustee wins despite not running

After bowing out of the race for a seat on the Santa Clara
County Board of Education last month, Julia Hover-Smoot woke up a
winner Wednesday morning.
After bowing out of the race for a seat on the Santa Clara County Board of Education last month, Julia Hover-Smoot woke up a winner Wednesday morning.

The Morgan Hill Unified School District Trustee had taken her hat out of the ring and thrown her support behind Adam Escoto, but voters delivered an unexpected twist. Hover-Smoot bested Escoto by 1,178 votes or about 4 percent of the vote.

“I’m in shock. No, I’m past shock,” Hover-Smoot said Wednesday morning by phone. “I am going to take the job. What an opportunity.”

With all 184 precincts reported as of 5 a.m. Wednesday, Hover-Smoot secured 13,909 votes or 45.7 percent, Escoto finished with 12,731 votes or 41.8 percent and appointed Santa Clara Valley Water District Director Cy Mann came in a distant last place with 3,801 votes or 12.5 percent.

The Registrar of Voters still has about 135,000 provisional ballots to count.

Hover-Smoot said she found out she had won from her husband early Wednesday morning.

“He called and said, ‘Are you sitting down?'” Hover-Smoot replied, “I already know Boxer won! ‘No this is more important,’ he said.” 

Both she and Escoto, who was backed by outgoing trustee Jane Howard, said it was surprising to see the votes swing so favorably for Hover-Smoot. 

“I can’t imagine what moves the voters but I hope that I can do the same things that I brought to Morgan Hill. I’ve tried to break down barriers that stand in the way of student success. There’s a lot of work to do and it will be very challenging. I’m so thrilled,” said Hover-Smoot, who was elected to the MHUSD board in 2008. 

In August just before the candidate filing deadline, Hover-Smoot and Escoto – separately – saw that Mann could win the Board of Education seat unopposed and were each motivated to run to ensure voters had a choice and a qualified candidate.

On Sept. 21, Hover-Smoot pulled out of the race, saying she wanted to continue to serve in Morgan Hill and she could “assure voters that Mr. Escoto is a well-qualified and competent candidate who will provide meaningful leadership to the families of the districts he will represent.”

Despite Hover-Smoot withdrawing from her own campaign, her name remained on the ballot. Escoto said he knew that that was going to be “problematic.”

“Sometimes these surprises happen,” he said. Escoto called Hover-Smoot Wednesday morning and she told him that she was prepared to serve. 

“I didn’t think that was going to happen. In addition to the support I had gotten, she was also one of my supporters,” Escoto said. “But, the bottom line is she got more votes than I did. She will be a productive and contributory board member.”

Hover-Smoot said, “I respect him and I hope he would continue to stay in contact with me and be an adviser.” To which Escoto said he will “continue to be supportive of kids in our district. I have every intention to do so.” 

Escoto, who has lived in Morgan Hill for 23 years, most recently was the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction and also special education at the Ravenswood City School District in East Palo Alto. For more than 20 years prior to Ravenswood, Escoto worked for the San Jose Unified School District as an assistant principal and later the principal of Horace Mann Elementary. He told the Times in a September interview that closing the achievement gap was high on his list of priorities if elected.

The County Board of Education is a seven-member board that provides oversight of the county superintendent, approves the office of education’s budget and is responsible for teacher support and special needs students, youths in juvenile hall, ROP and charter schools.

Hover-Smoot will serve as trustee for Area 7 that covers Morgan Hill Unified, Gilroy Unified, Alum Rock Union, Mount Pleasant and corresponding portion of East Side Union High school districts.

As a sitting MHUSD board member, Hover-Smoot’s decision to accept the position opens up a fifth seat on the school board. That position will not automatically go to the fifth vote-getter in Tuesday night’s election, but rather the process will be decided by the sitting school board once Hover-Smoot officially resigns.

In the past when there is a vacancy, the board has held interviews and then appoints a new member. Hosting a special election is an option, though because it’s so costly it’s often not done, according to Julie Zintsmaster, secretary to Superintendent Wes Smith. 

According to the California Education Code, “whenever a vacancy occurs, or whenever a resignation has been filed with the county superintendent of schools …, the school district governing board shall within 60 days of the vacancy … either order an election or make a provisional appointment to fill the vacancy … A person appointed to fill a vacancy shall hold office only until the next regularly scheduled election (November 2012) for district governing board members.”

The new and re-elected board members will be sworn into office at the Dec. 14 board meeting.

Newly re-elected board Trustee Shelle Thomas said that she hopes the board doesn’t appoint someone to the fifth seat without doing open interviews.

“It’s important with the new board there’s some sense of compatibility in working with someone, and really important the public be involved and have opportunity to come forward,” Thomas said.