One multiple-term incumbent held her place while another was upset for a seat on the Alpine School District Board in two of the closer Utah County races.
Linda Campbell, seeking her third term, drew the larger number of votes in District 4 over challenger E. Kent Flowers, drawing ahead after just a couple of districts were counted and maintaining her lead throughout the night.J. Blake Evans, in District 5, seesawed with challenger Marilyn Kofford until the final tally put Kofford in the winner's box after midnight.
Both school board members were party to the passage of the largest bond election in the history of the district in May when Alpine asked voters for $98 million to fund two new high schools and two new elementary schools.
The bond raises taxes on the average home by approximately $88 annually and had been expected to affect the races.
Challenger Flowers had promised the expenditure of funds as one of the priorities he would look at once in office. Kofford spelled out the need to team together to raise the level of educational success.
Campbell, a resident of Orem, said her victory is sweet because she loves what she does. "I've enjoyed it. I know you can't always please everybody, that's just the way it is. But I love kids. I'm just thrilled."
Campbell said there will always be financial challenges for the Alpine District and she wishes the numbers of students per teacher could be magically reduced, but she's also excited about the four new schools.
"Oh yeah, I'm excited to get the chance to see them through," said Campbell.
Kofford said she's extremely pleased and somewhat surprised at her win. She even admitted to having a few second thoughts, but wanted to thank those who helped her win.
"I had a lot of people who helped me: my family, my friends and other volunteers who just came through for me. We passed out 5,500 fliers."
Kofford said she "did the door-to-door" campaigning as much as physically possible and found it exhilarating.
She knows her work is cut out for her and plans to start hitting the books first thing in order to be ready for her responsibilities.