The Stockton Unified Board of Education will have three new trustees come December, with incumbent members Ray Zulueta Jr. and Alicia Rico opting not to run for reelection. Trustee Cecilia Mendez, who has been on the board since 2016, is termed out.
Zulueta declined to comment. Rico did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
Nine candidates will vie for the three open seats, including a five-way race in Area 4, which covers areas of west Stockton and is currently represented by Zulueta.
The Area 4 candidates include: Shauna Priest, a vice principal at Lodi Unified’s Parklane Elementary School; Stefanie Alfaro, listed on the ballot as a mother; Thaddeus Smith III, who chairs Stockton Unified’s African American/Black Parent Advisory Committee; Doug Vigil, who currently serves on the San Joaquin County Board of Education and came in second for the Area 4 seat in 2016; and Gwendolyn Dailey, the head of local nonprofit Dome of Hope.
The other races are less crowded. Anthony Wofford, a real estate agent, and Isabel Perez, who works for district community partner Public Health Advocates, are running in Area 1, a region of south Stockton currently represented by Mendez. In Area 3, Rico’s district in southeast Stockton, Maximiliano Beas, the president of the San Joaquin County Business Alliance, and Frank Silva, a youth coach, are running. Silva came in fourth for the same seat in 2020.
Voters in Areas 1 and 2 for the Board of Trustees for San Joaquin Delta College will also see some familiar names on the ballot who were unsuccessful in the March primary.
Former Stockton City Councilmember Ralph Lee White is running in south Stockton’s Area 1. White ran for city council in March and is currently suing the city over ballot access issues in the primary. He told Stocktonia he was running because the board needed more Black representation.
His opponent is Shelly Stoll Swanson, a former accountant who is married to a Delta College professor and had three children attend the college.
In Area 2, which covers central Stockton, councilmember Dan Wright is vying for a seat currently held by Jessie Garza-Roderick, who was appointed to the board in January. Garza-Roderick is not running.
Wright previously ran for Stockton mayor in March and came in third, four points behind second-place finisher Christina Fugazi. He also worked in education administration for many years, including a brief stint as Stockton Unified’s superintendent. His opponents are Julie Kay, a nursing instructor at Delta College, and Samuel Anderson, identified on the ballot as a local businessperson.