With all voting precincts reporting and 65 percent of the ballots counted countywide, homegrown candidate Thomas Arnett held onto a steady lead in the race for an open seat on the Morgan Hill Unified School District board of education.
As of the afternoon of June 8, Arnett tallied about 53 percent, or 4,941 of the votes cast in the June 7 election, according to returns from the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters office. Pam Torrisi had about 47 percent of the votes. A total of 9,334 votes had been cast in the race for former MHUSD Trustee Amy Porter Jensen’s seat on the board, but officials were not finished counting all the votes.
“To be honest, I’m pretty excited. As a political novice, I really didn’t know what to expect,” said Arnett on Wednesday. “I’m really happy to see people felt that I had something valuable to offer (and) I’m grateful for all the support that I received that I wasn’t expecting.”
The winner of the seat will complete Porter Jensen’s unfinished four-year term on the board, which ends in December. An election for a four-year board member for the same seat will take place in November.
“I’m happy to have us get to a number of seven board members again and I welcome Tom to the board,” said Board President Bob Benevento after learning of the results.
Arnett, 31, is an education researcher for the nonprofit think tank Clayton Christensen Institute. He attended San Martin/Gwinn Elementary, Britton Middle School and Live Oak High School.
Arnett said he will use his expertise from his research work to help nurture the existing programs within the district such as blending learning and the growing number of focus academies
“I’m definitely interested in running again in November,” said Arnett, who has already begun searching for a new home within the designated trustee area. “To really be able to make a difference, I’ll need run again.”
Torrisi, 64, is a retired MHUSD paraeducator of 34 years and a former classified union president. She is also a Live Oak alumna.
“I really feel like it was a positive experience. I met some really wonderful people. I have a really great team of people working with me and that are encouraging me to go again in November,” Torrisi said. “I’ve got to really think about that, but I think it’s really, really important.”
Starting with the November election, the board will switch to by-district voting, in which candidates must reside in the geographical area within MHUSD’s area they hope to represent. Torrisi currently resides in the MHUSD district that the open seat represents, whereas Arnett does not.
“As I’ve said all along, he’s a very nice young man and I wish him the best, and I hope he does what’s right for the district,” said Torrisi of Arnett.
The MHUSD board consists of seven elected trustees. The new voting system that takes effect in November divides MHUSD boundaries into seven areas, each represented by a separate trustee.
Arnett will take his seat on the board starting with the August 2 meeting at MHUSD headquarters, 15600 Concord Circle.
Parks take strong lead
In other local races in the June 7 presidential primary election, Santa Clara County’s Measure A for the continuation for Parks Charter funding appears to have won a solid victory with 77 percent of votes tallied so far in support of the parcel tax. More than 206,000 voters have balloted in favor of the existing property tax which will fund the maintenance, operation and acquisition of property for local parks. Nearly 61,000 balloters have voted against the measure.
Local results of the June 7 primary, which included the presidential primary as well as statewide and regional races, can be viewed on the Registrar’s website at sccgov.org.
Regional candidates leading in the vote count as of press time were 17th Senate District Incumbent Bill Monning, U.S. Representative for District 19 Incumbent Zoe Lofgren and State Assembly District 30 newcomer Anna Caballero.
