The election for five open seats on the Durango School District 9-R Board of Directors provided one very close race.
In District B, incumbent board member Stephanie Moran eked out a narrow victory over challenger Steve Brittain, with Moran taking 52 percent to Brittain's 48 percent among 7,464 votes cast.
Moran, who has served on the board for 1½ years, works at the Durango Education Center. Brittain is the program coordinator of La Plata Youth Services.
Contacted at home Tuesday night, Moran said, “I'm glad it was a close race because (Brittain) is a terrific person, and if he'd have won, he would have been fine – I'd have taken him out to lunch several times.”
In District C, incumbent board member Andy Burns handily defeated challenger Michael Wanger, gaining 64 percent of the vote to Wanger's 36 percent.
Burns is director of admissions and advising at Fort Lewis College. He has served on the Durango school board for four years and is poised to replace outgoing member Jeff Schell as its president.
Wanger is a self-employed lawyer.
Burns said to celebrate, he took his dog for a walk.
“It's been wonderful to see so many people step up to the plate and run for the election. It's something the school district hasn't seen in a long time,” he said.
Nancy Stubbs, a retired educator, ran unopposed in District E. Told she'd achieved 100 percent of the vote, Stubbs said, “Thank goodness. I am really excited about it. It's not a total surprise, but it's nice to have it settled and be totally official and get on with the job,” she said.
Kim Martin won comfortably in District F, seizing 61 percent of 7,098 votes, while challenger Erica Max received 39 percent.
Martin is a retired teacher.
Max is self-employed; she breeds, trains, and sells Danish warm-blood sport horses.
In District G, Mick Souder prevailed in a three-way race.
Of 7,052 votes, he boasted a 40 percent take, with incumbent board member Carolyn Smith, a retired systems analyst, finishing close behind at 35 percent. DeeDee Kendall trailed, winning 26 percent.
Souder works as director of the Southern Ute Tribe's management information systems.
Kendall works as a real estate agent at Century 21 Premiere Inc.
In a crowded field where nine candidates often felt identically about a range of issues, Kendall was the race's sole ideological outlier. Unlike the other candidates, Kendall opposed Amendment 66, saying it was a tax hike from which Durango School District 9-R students would derive too few benefits.
She also was a lone voice in opposing Common Core, a multistate effort to make academic standards more uniform.
With the failure of Amendment 66, the winners may soon feel their victories pyrrhic, as without new income, the school board is facing painful budget cuts to reduce the district's $1.6 million deficit.
“We have our work cut out for us,” Burns said.
The election winners will join incumbent Kristy Rodri on the board.
cmcallister@durangoherald.com
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