Election Watch: Three Candidates for School Board, Only Two Seats

When Piedmont voters go to the polls on Feb. 4, they will find six candidates on the ballot: three for the city council, three for the school board.

But the two races are likely to shape up very differently.

The Piedmont City Council will have three open seats to fill, so it's essentially a noncompetitive election.

The Piedmont Unified School District's board of education, though, will have only two openings. You will likely see more active campaigning from from the three candidates for that pair of seats.

The formal nomination period for both races ended Friday, Nov. 8, at 5 p.m., and all three city council candidates who had picked up papers returned them to the Piedmont City Clerk's Office prior to the deadline.

They are Teddy King, a member of the city's Recreation Commission; Tim Rood, a member of Piedmont's Budget Advisory & Financial Planning Committee who lost a closely contested race to Bob McBain in the 2012 municipal election; and incumbent Jeff Wieler, who is seeking a second council term.

Wieler also served on the city council from 2002 to 2006. Under the City Charter, a councilmember may be elected for no more than two consecutive four-year terms of office.  However, after a full term has elapsed (four years), councilmembers may again run for office.

On the board of education side, the three candidates are Doug Ireland, Amal Smith and Hari Titan.

Ireland was co-chair of the successful campaign for Measure A, the Piedmont Unified School District parcel tax measure passed by voters last spring.

Smith is a member of the PUSD's Budget Advisory Committee and experienced school volunteer.

Titan, a data scientist, is a relative newcomer to Piedmont politics. He says his campaign will focus on "modernizing the communication platform between parents and board members."

Jon Elliott, who ran unsuccessfully for the school board in 2012, took out nomination papers for the 2014 election but did not return them by the deadline.

Piedmont Patch will be talking with candidates for both the city council and the board of education, If you have questions you'd like us to ask of the candidates, please list them in the comments section below or email to dixie.jordan@patch.com.

Editor's note: In past elections, Piedmont Patch has welcomed letters to the editor in support of candidates and has published all those received by the set deadline. Technical and other changes at Patch have now made this impractical. You are, however, welcome to post your thoughts on the election or individual candidates in the Piedmont Patch announcements section here or as a blog post here. Please extend courtesy to all candidates.