ELECTION RESULTS: New Look School Board - Close Margin Makes Difference

The Banning Unified School District board of trustees will have a new look when three winners of Tuesday's election take their seats on the five-member panel.

Three Banning Teachers Association candidates were elected to the Banning school board, according to results that had yet to be finalized Wednesday.

Retired science teacher Larry Ellis led the field of seven candidates with 2,180 votes, and retired school administrator Ray Curtis came in second with 1,978 votes, according to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters.

Ellis and Curtis won by comfortable margins, but the battle for the third slot on the board was determined by 28 votes - less than one-third of 1 percent of the 8,888 votes counted in the race.

Child care worker Alejandro Cassadas finished in third place with 1,432 votes, according to the registrar.

Incumbent board member and current president Deborah Dukes, finished behind Cassadas with 1,404 votes, according to the registrar.

Retired teacher David Vanden Heuvel had 877 votes, parent Maxine Israel had 647 votes, and para educator Alfredo Andrade had 370 votes, according to the registrar.

With seven candidates running for three spots on the board, each ballot stated "Vote for no more than Three."

It was not clear Wednesday how many ballots were cast.

The total number of registered voters eligible to cast ballots on Tuesday in the Banning school board election was 12,104, according to figures released Monday by the registrar.

The Banning Teachers Association, the union that represents more than 200 teachers in the Banning Unified School District, endorsed Cassadas, Curtis, and Ellis.

The California School Employees Association, the classified school employees union that represents more than 210,000 school support staff in California, endorsed Andrade, Cassadas and Curtis.

Banning Unified School District serves about 5,000 students in a 300-square-mile area, from kindergarten through 12th grade, according to the district's web site.

The district includes four elementary schools, two middle schools, one comprehensive high school, and one continuation high school.

Banning Unified is one of the largest employers in the San Gorgonio Pass, with about 450 employees, according to the district.