Turnout in Delaware school board elections leaves DelawareCAN 'disappointed'

Despite a Delaware nonprofit's efforts to get more residents involved in local school board elections, turnout Tuesday was relatively unchanged, with just over 8,600 votes cast statewide.

That's less than 2 percent of registered voters. In one race, for Indian River's district 5 seat, only 122 people voted. Derek Cathell won with 95 votes to Carla Ziegler's 27.

Red Clay's Jose Matthews earned the most votes of any race, with 1,009 votes. His race against Joseph DiMichele had the highest turnout.

"Overall, school board election turnout was still disappointing despite our robust efforts," said Atnre Alleyne, founder and executive director of the education advocacy organization DelawareCAN.

The nonprofit launched a campaign and website this spring called "Who Runs Our Schools?" to connect voters across the state with clear, interactive information about their candidates — including survey results from candidates running in races from Wilmington to Delmar.

Despite lax participation in Tuesday's race, Alleyne said DelawareCAN will continue promoting school board elections and trying to get people more engaged.

"It has been this way for decades and will not change overnight," he said.

Who Runs Our Schools created momentum but change will take a sustained effort, he said.

"It's most important that we connect people with their schools and boards year-round," he said "This will make voting next May a logical extension and not a unique experience. That's what we will work to accomplish."

Delaware's 117 school board members make decisions impacting 93,171 students. The smallest school district budget is $14 million in Delmar, while the largest is $255 million in Red Clay, according to DelawareCAN.

Yet, less than 500 votes are generally needed for a seat on a Delaware school board.

Ronnie Williams, who was the only candidate to unseat an incumbent in the election, Colonial School Board's Richard Schiller, said he was excited to win, but disappointed that it took so few votes.

He monitored turnout throughout the day. At 6 p.m., only two hours before the polls closed, turnout at any individual New Castle County school district was still less than 1 percent of possible voters.

"We have a long way to go for school board elections," Williams said on Facebook. "Colonial has 60,000 voters and yet less than 400 people decided my race: 237 - 141."

School board members typically serve for five years. Results of Tuesday's election are as follows, listed by school district:

Appoquinimink

At-large:

Kelley Wright* — uncontested

Brandywine

District A: 848

Shanika Perry* — 684

Renaldo Epps — 164

District C:

Ralph Ackerman* — uncontested

Caesar Rodney

At-large: 1,315

John Moore Sr. — 318

William Victory Sr. — 387

Tracey Miller — 207

P. Scott Wilson* — 403

Capital

At-large:

Sean Christiansen* — uncontested

Christina

District C:1,126

Fred Polaski* — 411

Richard Jester — 358

V.J. Leonard — 357

District E: 1,120

Christy Mannering: 502

Keeley Powell: 618

Colonial

District A:

Ronald Handy Sr. — uncontested

District C: 378

Ronnie Williams — 237

Richard Schiller Jr.* — 141

District G: 413

Ana Viscarra-Gikas — 94

Tanya Kerns — 98

Robin Crossan — 221

Indian River

District 3: 441

Dana Probert — 92

Leolga Wright* — 349

District 5: 122

Derek Cathell* — 95

Carla Ziegler — 27

Lake Forest

At-large: 236

James Parsons — 78

John Moyer III — 158

Milford

District A:

Jason Miller — uncontested

At-large:

David Vezmar — uncontested

Red Clay

District A:

Adriana Bohm* — uncontested

District D: 1,724

Joseph DiMichele Sr. — 715

Jose Matthews — 1,009

District E:

Jason Casper* — uncontested

Smryna

At-large: 730

Kristi Lloyd* — 479

Gary Dodge — 251

Woodbridge

At-large: 191

Jeffrey Allen — 167

Darrynn Harris — 24

*Incumbent.

Contact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies.

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