NEWPORT-MESA SCHOOL BOARDUpdate: 3 new trustees to take seats

Voters decided on a wide change to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board of trustees, with only longtime incumbent Judy Franco winning back her seat in her seventh straight electoral win.

As of Wednesday morning, with all precincts counted, former Corona del Mar High School parent Karen Yelsey had defeated incumbent Serene Stokes, while Franco outpaced challengers Sandy Asper, Loretta Zimmerman and Jack Price. In the race for the open seat to be vacated this year by trustee Linda Sneen, College Park Elementary School PTA President Michael Collier defeated nurse and therapist Kimberly Clark.

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With former Costa Mesa planning commissioner Walt Davenport having won another open seat unopposed, the school board will have three new faces in December. This year, in a first, the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers campaigned against both of the incumbents on the ballot, favoring Yelsey over Stokes and Asper over Franco.

On Tuesday night, the candidates gathered with friends, family and supporters to track the election results online. The first totals from absentee ballots put Franco, Collier and Yelsey in the lead, and they remained there for the rest of the evening.

“It will be a long night,” said Franco, who gathered with Stokes and three other school board members at the home of trustee Dana Black. “It will be until the last ballot is counted. I take nothing for granted.”

Asper, a retired teacher who worked in Newport-Mesa for 38 years, hosted a party at a clubhouse in Newport Dunes, with teachers and other union members in attendance.

As the television announced the Democrats’ victory in the House of Representatives, partygoers downed Mexican food and waited for the Orange County results online.

In the race for the Coast Community College District board of trustees, incumbent Mary Hornbuckle held a slight margin over opponents David Boyd and Reuben Ross. Jim Moreno, a former candidate for Huntington Beach City Council, led substantially over Lu Tuan Nguyen, Tom Hermstad and Carl Hendon in a race for an open seat.