The new Irvine Unified School Board Members, who won on Tuesday night, are: Lauren Brooks, Paul Bokota and incumbent Michael Parham. They ran as a slate called “Irvine Education First.” They will join Susan Wallin and Gavin Huntley-Fenner on the IUSD School Board. Huntley-Fenner lost badly in his campaign for the City Council this year.
Here are the election results:
- Michael Parham 17,074 (15.9%) – incumbent
- Lauren Brooks 16,092 (15.0%)
- Paul Bokota 14,745 (13.8%)
- Carolyn Inmon 13,955 (13.0%)
- Bob Vu 11,118 (10.4%)
- Cyril Yu 10,147 (9.5%)
- Omar Ezzeldine 8,970 (8.4%)
- Margaret Brown 7,585 (7.1%)
- Michelle Ollada Alipio 7,431 (6.9%)
A few observations – there were far too many candidates in this race. Clearly some of the challengers should have withdrawn early on and gotten behind like-minded opponents. Parham has a big advantage as an incumbent, but Brooks almost matched his total votes.
Brooks was endorsed by Democratic Irvine Council Members Beth Krom and Sukhee Kang, and she had the support of several of the other IUSD School Board members. She was also endorsed by the teachers’ union, which bodes ill. Now she will have to serve them, not the parents in Irvine. Bokota had the same endorsements as Brooks. They both appear to be Democrats.
Parham did not have his own campaign website.