Monterey Peninsula Unified School District has four seats open for the upcoming election on Nov. 3. Candidates for all four seats, in areas 2,3,4 and 6, are running unopposed.
All four are familiar faces on the MPUSD board. Three are incumbents: Area 3 Trustee Bettye Lusk, a former teacher and principal at MPUSD who has served on the board for over 20 years; Maiaika Velazquez in Area 4, who is currently serving her first term; and Gabriel Sanders, who was appointed last year to replace Amanda Whitmire in representing Area 6. Whitmire moved out of the district and resigned in August, after serving on the board since 2018.
Whitmire is back, this time in Area 2, where current Board President Tom Jennings is not seeking reelection after 10 years on the board. (Whitmire moved from Monterey to Marina.)
Other K-12 school districts with all seats uncontested include Santa Rita Union, Salinas City Elementary and Soledad Unified. In the four districts combined, there are 12 uncontested seats. All candidates (except Whitmire) are incumbents. All will be appointed and their names won’t appear on the ballot.
By law, school districts opt for appointments when there is only one candidate.