New faces will be joining the Clovis Unified School District School Board, and some will be saying goodbye.
In Area 2, the seat was up for grabs as Ginny Hovsepian, a board member since 1991, decided to retire and not run for re-election. David DeFrank will be taking her place leading with 79 percent of the vote while his opponent, Jacob Tremble, received 21 percent.
DeFrank is an attorney and father of five ranging from preschool to 5th grade.
In Area 4, incumbent Hugh Awtrey will return for a new term, maintaining his current position on the board by receiving 39 percent of the vote. Right behind Awtrey, closing in was Noha Elbaz at 35 percent, and lastly, Jonathan Holt with 26 percent.
For Area 5, trustee Steve Fogg was unopposed and was left off the ballot.
Area 7 will welcome their new Trustee, Yolanda Moore, who received 53 percent of the vote. Moore will be replacing long-time incumbent Chris Casado, who had 47 percent.
“Of course, going into this, there is always the hope for the win, but I had a lot of obstacles against a 12-year imcumbent. I’m not from Clovis, I’m African American, there was a lot of things that I thought would not necessarily work in my favor, but I still just campaigned hard,” says Moore.
For six weeks, Moore did community outreach; going to neighborhoods on the weekends and merely getting to know the community. Now that the hard work is over, she is looking forward to family fun nights.
The two new trustees, Moore and DeFrank, will be sworn in later this year in December.