Treppiedi holds small lead in Spokane School Board race

Longtime Spokane School Board member Rocky Treppiedi is in a tight battle to retain his director position, holding a narrow lead over 26-year-old challenger Jerrall Haynes after the first count in Tuesday’s election.

Treppiedi led Haynes by less than 1 percentage point Tuesday night – 49.97 percent to Haynes’ 49.10 percent.

“Right now it’s too close. We’re not going to give up hope tonight,” said Eric Frederick, Haynes’ campaign manager.

Haynes was working a night shift at Fairchild Air Force Base and was unable to comment. He’s an airplane mechanic and the freshman football coach at East Valley High School.

Treppiedi said he would have to wait and see.

“Frankly, every time I’ve been on the ballot I’ve been completely dark at this time of the race,” he said.

Treppiedi, who decided to run for a different board position at the last minute – position 3 versus position 4 – said he didn’t run much of a campaign because he was busy with current board work.

In the other Spokane Public Schools board seat up for election, University High School teacher Paul Schneider beat his opponent Patricia Kienholz with 54 percent of the vote.

“I’m feeling very confident,very comfortable,” Schneider said. “We ran a very good campaign and I’m not at all surprised at where we’re at.”

Both Haynes and Schneider had the backing of the Spokane Education Association.

Schneider has been a teacher for nearly 20 years. He maintained that his experience in the classroom would give the board a needed perspective.

Treppiedi said he nearly didn’t run this year. However, Jeffrey Bierman’s decision to not run for re-election persuaded him to stay on. Treppiedi is the longest-serving board member.

During his tenure on the board Treppiedi has been a vocal opponent of unions. Schneider is a member of both the Washington Education Association and the Central Valley Education Association. Treppiedi, a former assistant city attorney for Spokane, said that if he wins re-election he would respect Schneider’s role as a board member.

“He would be one vote out of five,” Treppiedi said. “He would be respected like every other board member.”

Schneider said he would work well with any board member. However, he’s not afraid to disagree.

“If that means Mr. Treppiedi and I are at odds from time to time, that means we’re at odds,” he said.

Cheney

In Cheney, former Airway Heights Mayor Patrick Rushing’s attempt to unseat incumbent Henry Browne Jr. failed. Browne received 60 percent of the vote. Rushing resigned as mayor in September after posting comments on Facebook that other council members said were racist.

Mead

Longtime incumbent Bob Olson, whose served on the Mead board since 1985, held on to his board post, beating challenger John Hatcher by capturing 60 percent of the vote.