Melinda Gneiting and Erinn Miller won their school board race.
The two school board candidates backed by the We Deserve a Better Board committee won their races.
District 3 candidate Erinn Miller had 61.23 percent of the vote to defeat School Board Trustee Doug Englekirk, according to the latest results.
District 5 candidate Melinda Gneiting received 58.45 percent of the vote, defeating Antoinette Casselberry.
Englekirk said he wished Miller the best on Thursday.
“I pray that she will protect our children, and I think with the new administration, the district should be able to enact policies that will do that without fear of legal consequences,” he said.
Miller thanked all who supported her campaign.
“Whether you volunteered your time, donated, or simply offered your encouragement, your involvement has meant the world to me,” she said. “Running for the Douglas County School District Trustee was a journey filled with challenges, but also incredible moments of inspiration, and none of it would have been possible without your belief in our shared vision. Your support has proven that when we come together as a community, we can accomplish amazing things.”
She thanked the Carson Valley Chamber, Sierra Nevada Realtors, The Tahoe Chamber and We Deserve a Better Board.
“I am committed to continuing to fight for the values we hold dear, and I hope to stay in touch with each of you as we move forward,” she said. “Thank you again for your generosity, your energy, and your trust.”
Gneiting was out on Tuesday evening with her sign near the entrance to the Douglas County Community Center.
“I just want to thank everyone who came out and voted,” she said. “It will be an honor to serve the people of this community, and I am looking forward to working with the board and superintendent to meet the needs of our students, families, and staff.”
Casselberry congratulated the elected trustees.
Both Englekirk and Casselberry were backed by the group that was successful in electing David Burns, Susan Jansen and Katherine Dickerson in 2022.
The new board hired Joey Gilbert Law in July 2023 after firing the district's long-time legal counsel. That prompted supporters to seek public records from the three trustees and Englekirk to determine whether that and other decisions were made in secret in violation of Nevada's Open Meeting Law.
Members of the Better Board group filed a lawsuit in August 2023 after they said their records requests were being stonewalled.
A year after hiring Gilbert, the district and four trustees and with the possibility that they might be found willfully withholding them hanging over their head complied with the request.
Those records and others previously obtained outlined the majority of the board's efforts to oust Superintendent Keith Lewis. Lewis said he agreed to leave the position after the pressures being placed on him began to affect his family.
After a hearing in the lawsuit, District Judge Tom Gregory found against the school district and trustees. Attorney Rich McGuffin filed for $153,758 in attorneys fees, suggesting that the four trustees were responsible for 93 percent of the missing records, and should be responsible for the same amount of the costs.
The defendants were to file a response to McGuffin by Nov. 7, but according to the District Court Clerk's office, nothing new was filed in the case as of 2 p.m. Friday.
