Aquino and Sobah Re-Elected to CV School Board

Only a few thousand voters visited the polls May 3, but of the votes cast, incumbent trustees and won the majority for re-election to the Chippewa Valley Board of Education.

Sobah and Aquino defeated candidate to retain their seats on the board for another six years. The new terms start July 1.

"I'm thrilled and honored that George and I both were successful in being re-elected and I'm honored that the people of our community feel that this school district has been moving in the right direction," Aquino said. "They’ve supported us for six more years, so I assume they think we're moving in the right direction."

Sobah shared Aquino's sentiments at being re-elected, but both expressed disappointment with the low voter turnout–less than 10 percent of registered voters visited the polls, according to Macomb County reports.

However, Sobah said he sees advantages and disadvantages to the low turnout.

"We want to involve as many people as possible, but people who feel informed and feel the elections are important show up to vote," Sobah said. "We try our best to let the community know the election is going on, and we are discussing changes to the date."

Sobah and Aquino said the board is continuing to discuss moving the election date to November so as to increase the number of voters coming to the polls and decrease the cost of the election.

Two-time candidate Caporuscio said the election date issue is one she will continue lobbying for despite not winning a seat on the board.

"I want them to move these elections to November," Caporuscio said. "House bill 4005 will make (school board elections) mandatory for November and I will be lobbing to get that passed. I will FOIA the amount of money spent on this election and I will make that public."

While Caporuscio said she has not decided whether to run again in 2013, she will continue to track district spending and offer her own commentary on her website.

"A lot of new people came to my website through the campaign, so it’s a win for me when I can bring new people to my website to see another side of things," she said. "I received letters from the community during the campaign that said, 'Whether you win or lose, I urge to keep looking and asking questions about what’s going on out here.' That spurs me on again."

According to results on the Macomb County Elections website, Aquino won almost 40 percent of the vote with Sobah earning 35 percent.

In the short term, Sobah said he plans to do all he can to help the district weather the current financial crisis in the state and try to balance the budget.

"I look forward to working with employee groups to come up with a solution to our problem," Sobah said. In the long term, "I will continue to work to correct the inequities of Proposal A created for the district and to improve education and see every student graduate."

Aquino, too, said she plans to work with stakeholders in the district to help solve the shortfalls of Chippewa Valley's finances as well as to make the district's "unique" financial situation clear to legislators.

"My goal is to work with those groups to one, keep cuts from impacting education, and two, to work with legislators to let them know Proposal A is not working," Aquino said. "We want to keep our scores showing we are making progress and students are performing to the level we expect them to."

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