UPDATE: Incumbent Richland School Board still hopeful as she trails 2 challengers
Heather Cleary is still hoping she can make it to the general election ballot in the race for Richland School Board.
After the first round of votes were counted Tuesday, Cleary, the second-longest serving Richland board member, trailed her nearest competitor, Danica Garcia, by 499 votes in the three-person race.
“I’m disappointed, but I respect the process, and we’ll see where it ends up,” she told the Herald. “There’s still 8,000 votes left to count, but you don’t know how many are for Richland and West Richland.”
The school board race had the second highest turnout in the county with 12,731 votes. It only trailed the recall of Sheriff Jerry Hatcher for the total number of votes cast.
No matter the outcome, Cleary said she is proud of what the district has accomplished during her time involved with it.
When she started, the district had facilities that were in bad shape, and since then they’ve replaced about 15 buildings. That includes the new Libby Middle School, the rebuilt Tapteal and Jefferson elementary schools.
She is also happy with the superintendents the district has hired, including Shelley Redinger.
“We’ve accomplished a tremendous amount,” she said. “We’ve accomplished great things.”
The top-two winners will head to the general election in November.
The Benton County Auditor’s Office said they counted 29,852 ballots and estimated there were 8,000 more remaining. It’s unknown how many of those ballots are from Richland.
The leader in the race is Audra Byrd, who is among a group of parents upset that schools did not open sooner. She received 5,508 votes or just above 43 percent.
Garcia, a Spanish instructor at Bon Voyage World Language Academy, is in second place with 3,821 votes or 30 percent.
Cleary was one of the strongest voices for waiting to open schools until there was a better handle on COVID.
The 16-year veteran had 3,322 votes or 26 percent.
This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 9:08 PM.