Zaleski, Mopps top vote-getters for Richmond; most Wayne County school board incumbents retain seats

Zach Piatt, Richmond Palladium-Item
·3 min read

RICHMOND, Ind. — Of the 16,787 Wayne County residents who cast their ballot for Tuesday’s election, 14,037 of them (83.62%) voted in the 10-person race for two Richmond Community School Board At-Large seats. That number blew every other county school board race out of the water. To put it in perspective, the Northeastern Wayne Schools District E At-Large race was the second-largest with five candidates vying for one spot, and it only received 1,295 votes (7.71%).

People care about who’s making decisions for Richmond schools, and they voted Pete Zaleski and Stacy E. Mopps to become the district’s next board members.

Results:Wayne County Local Election Results

Results:Wayne Township trustee holds off challenger; Jefferson Township adds new faces

Here are the results from Tuesday’s school board races for Richmond, Northeastern Wayne, Centerville-Abington, Western Wayne and Nettle Creek:

Richmond Community Schools

At-Large

Zaleski received 23.15 percent of the vote, and Mopps received 18.62 percent, both well ahead of their eight fellow candidates.

Rounding out the vote-getters were Beth Lipps (11.98%), Bruce Laudermilk (8.12%), Sam Thomas (7.98%), Sayward Carolin-Salazar (7.46%), Windel A. Stracener (7.44%), incumbent Jeff Slifer (6.82%), Matthew Yellen (5.92%) and Ronnie Swango (2.51%).

Earlier:Introducing the 10 candidates running for Richmond School Board positions

District 3

Incumbent Kristen Brunton retained her seat on the board, running unopposed and receiving 5,406 votes.

Related:Richmond School Board votes to reverse $1 insurance after 6 months of pushback

Northeastern Wayne Schools

District E At-Large

Kim Claypoole filled a vacancy on Northeastern’s board in late September after a former member resigned. Her hiring came after the race withdrawal deadline had already passed. This meant Claypoole, already a school board member, would still be on the ballot for a school board seat.

Claypoole still received the majority of the vote (30.50%). Next in line was Cindy Robertson (22.47%). Following them were Jim Summers (20.93%), Mark Broeker (16.22%) and Dan VanDuyne (9.88%).

Earlier:Meet school board election candidates from Northeastern, Centerville, Western Wayne, Nettle Creek

District A

Incumbent Nicholas Clevenger ran unopposed and received 1,113 votes.

Centerville-Abington Schools

District D At-Large

Incumbent Brad Lambright retained his seat with 58.27 percent of the vote compared to Tiffany Torbeck’s 41.73 percent.

Western Wayne Schools

District D At-Large

Incumbent Phillip Pflum won this race with 56.04 percent of the vote, beating out Amber Rushton with 43.96 percent.

District C

William Brent Fortman ran unopposed and will fill this seat after receiving 1,285 votes.

Nettle Creek Schools

District B

Incumbent Cody Sankey ran unopposed and received 1,402 votes.

At-Large

Incumbents Shaun Lieberman and Marcie Houghton were the only two running for two open seats, and they will retain those seats. Lieberman received 1,255 votes, and Houghton received 1,200.

Zach Piatt is a reporter for The Palladium-Item. Contact him at zpiatt@gannett.com or on Twitter @zachpiatt13.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Zaleski, Mopps top vote-getters for Richmond school board