Yeah, yeah, there’s that nail-biter presidential race everyone is so stirred up about, but school boards are where things happen that actually matter to kids in school and their parents, and where your vote counts.The East Side school board contests are nail biters, too, with low numbers in early results that show only 41% of the totals votes cast. The Summit County Clerk’s Office released the first counts at 10:20 p.m. Tuesday, the only update for the evening.Here are the vote totals so far in contested races: South Summit School Board President Wendy Radke was trailing District 1 (Oakley) challenger Wade Woolstenhulme with 177 votes to his 190.In District 2 (Kamas), retired special education teacher Dan Eckert, the incumbent, had 240 votes to challenger Garrett Walker Carpenter’s 166.In North Summit, incumbent Waylond Bond was leading challenger Walter Yates for Seat 2 with 186 votes to Yates’ 72.For Seat 3, incumbent Clark Staley was trailing Maggi Judi with 77 votes to her 133.“I grew up in Coalville and graduated from North Summit and I am very aware of the traditions of the school and want to keep the students on top scholastically,” Staley said in The Park Record/KPCW voting guide.“I was raised by a teacher and lunchroom cook,” Judi said. She described herself as a substitute teacher, lifelong learner and lover of public education system. “Few things are more important to me than education.” Her four children graduated from NorthSummit.“Our students have continually tested among highest public schools in state,” Bond said. “I would continue to support the plans put in place by each of the principals that have been successful thus far.”Yates couldn’t be reached.South Summit’s Woolstenhulme, a lifelong resident of Oakley, was a principal in the district for 14 years. His seven grandkids have followed Woolstenhume and his children into the school system. Asked the biggest issue for South Summit schools, Woolstenhulme said: “A problemthat is always present is hiring and retaining qualified teachers who can afford to live where we live.”Radke, who taught for 22 years of her three-decade career at South Summit, said: “Making sure we meet needs of all learners. Providing knowledge, skills, and dispositions to be successful in life. While we are making great strides, always something we will focus on.”Eckert said he has worked in education his entire adult life and coached sports for 35 years. “I’m not in it just for an agenda or free insurance benefits,” he said.Asked how to improve student achievement, he said: “We are emphasizing increasedrigor this school year so let’s see how that works out.”Carpenter couldn’t be reached.The post East Side school boards mostly all close races with low vote totals reported so far appeared first on Park Record.