APS board swearing in and officer election (with Breaking Bad reference!)

I assume that everyone who reads my blog follows me on Twitter at @HaileyHeinz. And if so, you know that I live-tweeted last night’s school board meeting with information about who was elected to various board posts. But I thought I’d repost them here for those of you who aren’t all up on the Twitters.

Last night, new board members Don Duran and Steven Michael Quezada (of Breaking Bad — I’m generating clicks here), were sworn in. Re-elected board members Lorenzo Gracia and David Peercy were also sworn in for second terms.

Afterward, the board voted on its officers. This was more interesting than it has been in the past. Past board officer elections I’ve covered have been fairly perfunctory, but this election process had a few 4-3 splits, which all fell along the same lines: with new board members Duran and Quezada joining with Analee Maestas as the minority voting bloc.

I don’t want to give the impression that the voting was cutthroat or anything; it was very cordial. But the divisions were interesting.

Board member Martin Esquivel was unanimously elected board president. With the departure of former President Paula Maes, Esquivel is the longest-serving member of the board, at six years. Board member Lorenzo Garcia was also nominated, but he declined the nomination, saying he feels the board would be better served by Esquivel’s experience. He did, however, indicate he might be interested in the position at some later date.

Later in the night, Garcia was elected chair of the board’s capital outlay commitee, in a 4-3 vote. The other candidate for that position was Duran. Duran was later unanimously elected chair of the finance committee.

Board members Maestas and Kathy Korte were both nominated to serve as vice president, but Korte prevailed on a 4-3 vote. Maestas was unanimously elected chair of the district and community relations committee.

The rest of the elections were uncontested, with Quezada landing the secretary spot, Peercy’s election as chair of the policy committee and Korte’s election as chair of the audit committee (in addition to her role as vice president). Esquivel teased Quezada when he was unanimously chosen for secretary, saying “You seem to have this good fortune of no opposition.” Quezada ran unopposed in the newly created District 5 on the West Side.