The winners of the West Sonoma County Union School District board election are
projected to be Julie Aiello, sweeping up 13,764 (39.84%) of the votes, and Laurie Ann Fadave, capturing 12,276 (35.54%) of the votes.
The county has until Dec. 3 to certify these election results, last updated by the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters Office Thursday morning, with preliminary results from 100% of the precincts. Not all ballots have been counted, as the office continues to sort drop-off and mail-in ballots.
“I just was very excited that after teaching for 31 years in the community, I was very gratified that the community put their trust in me,” Aiello said about watching the results come in. “And I think that I have a history of being very straightforward and telling the truth and honoring our community and representing our kids. So, I was really grateful that the community is giving me that opportunity to still serve them and the kids of west county.”
Aiello is a recently retired public school teacher and former teachers union president and chief negotiator at the Sebastopol Union School District. A parent of an Analy High School graduate, she taught at Sebastopol Elementary School for decades.
Aiello said she was excited to get started looking into the district’s possible consolidation and unification with smaller elementary school districts.
Fadave taught in the Analy English department for 17 years of her 40-year teaching career, serving as department chair for eight years. She’s the parent of five Analy High graduates and mentored other teachers.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us and some tough decisions to make regarding consolidation of schools, budget, curriculum,” Fadave said. “And I’m willing to listen to the concerns of the community and especially the students who I don’t think we’ve heard enough from at this point and try to make the best decision possible during these really trying circumstances.”
Fadave added that she wanted to thank Kyle O’Connor and Lynn Schallebaum Gleeson for running as it takes a lot of courage to stand up and try to do what’s best for one’s community. “And I hope they too will continue to offer their voices, their support, their ideas to the board because we’re going to need all the help we can get,” she said.
The two newcomers will replace Diane Landry and Ted Walker for four-year terms as the board considers consolidating Analy, El Molino and Laguna high schools to recover from a chronic budget deficit.
