Previous appointee secures 54.29 percent of vote, defeating candidate Angela Hollander
PASO ROBLES — A new Paso Robles Joint Unified School District trustee was sworn in on Tuesday night, May 9. Last week, after the San Luis Obispo County Clerk certified the April 18 Special Election, candidate Kenneth (Kenney) Enney secured the vote.
Enney supporters filled the seats Tuesday night with American flags in hand to watch his swearing-in before the closed session. In October 2022, Enney was appointed to the trustee seat after Chris Bausch left his seat on the board to serve on City Council. The special election was then initiated after a petition was successful in terminating provisionally appointed trustee Enney.
Former PRJUSD Trustee Frank Triggs served on the board that appointed Enney. The appointment involved several candidates who sat through a series of questions from the board. Those interviews are available to view on YouTube here youtube.com/watch?v=ifiQqXKgRaI
Triggs was at the school board meeting Tuesday night showing his support for Enney’s election win.
“I think it’s a most appropriate outcome,” he said. “And it is verified what the board decided when I was on the board that he was a good choice.”
And regarding Enney’s appointment and termination from the board, he added, “Besides him having two Master’s degrees and his training in the military, and his ability with finances, we thought he would be a good choice for the board. Unfortunately, there are those who politically thought that he didn’t fall in line with what they thought. And we wasted a lot of money … We had several good candidates and I felt that he was the best. I am here in support of Kenney.”
The official cost of the election has yet to be determined, but an early estimate from the County Clerk-Recorder was over $400,000.
Paso Robles Press reached out to Enney for comment on his election win and he said, “I’m honored and very grateful for the support from the community. Moving forward, we have a lot of work to do. I think we all agree that our public schools are failing our next generation. Now we need to come together to fix it. Parental involvement in that process is essential. In the next few weeks, as a first step, I will be introducing a ‘Parental Bill of Rights’ and a plan for citizen oversight committees. Long term, I will continue to advocate for a charter high school and expanded vocational programs.”
The PRJUSD Special Election was completed, and the election was certified by County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano on Wednesday, May 3. According to a press release from Cano, of the 30,705 PRJUSD registered voters, 11,563 voted by mail (37.66 percent of voters), while 462 voted in person at a polling place (1.5 percent of voters). Overall turnout was 39.16 percent.
Enney won with 54.29 percent of the vote against candidate Angela Hollander, who took 45.71 percent of the vote.
The estimated cost for the special election that was provided to the PRJUSD was $493,000. The exact cost will not be finalized for a few more weeks but it is anticipated that the final cost will be well below the estimated amount. The deadline to request a recount was Monday, May 8, at 5 p.m. Cano told the Paso Robles Press that no one filed to request a recount.
Official results and other election information can be found on slovote.com.
The next Paso Robles Joint Unified School District meeting is scheduled for May 23 at 6 p.m.
Feature Image:
The audience looks on as Kenneth (Kenney) Enney is sworn in as the new trustee on the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District board during its Wednesday, May 9, meeting. Photo by Camille DeVaul
