SOUTH COUNTY — Henry “Hank” Montgomery and Mary Silva will continue to serve in their capacities as trustees of the board for the Konocti Unified School District. Both incumbents have been re-elected to serve additional terms of four years.
Election results, which are pending official verification, showed Silva finishing the race with the most votes. Silva accumulated 3,071 votes out of 6,136 ballots cast. Ballots cast for Silva accounted for 35.7 percent of the votes cast in the election.
“I want to thank the voters of Konocti Unified School District and I”m very pleased about the outcome of the election,” Silva said. “I look forward to working hard to continue to improve the educational opportunities for our children and our community.”
Silva has served three terms on the school and said she is humbled by the faith the community has instilled in her. “I”m honored that this community believes in me. I feel like this is my home; this is my community and I love it,” she said. “I”m so happy that this community believes in me the way I believe in it. I want to do everything I can to help this place succeed and help our children succeed. It”s in my heart.”
The 1917 votes cast for Montgomery accounted for 22.3 percent of votes cast in the district. Montgomery has served as a trustee of the board for past five years first filling an unexpired term by appointment.
“I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve another term with the Konocti Unified School District. I want to thank my supporters and all of those who took the time and energy to get involved including my fellow candidates,” he said. “There is a lot of hard work ahead as we expect more from our schools with fewer dollars. We need everyone to stay involved. Making our schools better is a full time job and I hope that those who became interested during this campaign will continue to be involved and help the Konocti Unified School District continue to improve everyday.”
Newcomer Gigi Mattos showed strong support in the election trailing Montgomery by 84 votes. Lynda Robinson also showed healthy support finishing the race 59 votes behind Mattos.
Robinson, who has been a member of the community for the past three years, said she appreciates all the support she received in this election process. “I would like to thank all the people who voted for me,” she said. “I am humbled by the people who had the confidence in me and my qualifications for the job. It was a challenging race and an informative race. But, the needs of our children have not been prioritized. I hope to see that the community, the parents, the teachers and administrators will focus on our children.”
Robinson said she will continue to advocate for the youth of the community. “I will remain a voice to be heard on behalf of our children in our community to promote their academic excellence,” she said. “Mary has been on the board for 12 years and Hank for five, so I will ask: Are our children any better off today than they were four years ago?”
Robinson continued, “I don”t have any negative comments about my colleagues. It was a very clean election. Should another election come up and I am available, I will run again.”
According to results reported on the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office Web site, there were a total of 11,186 registered voters in the Konocti Unified School District. Absentee ballots accounted for 26.7 percent of votes cast while precinct ballots accounted for 28.1 percent. A total of 6,136 ballots were reportedly cast in the election for a voter turnout of 54.9 percent.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com.
