Voters in the Ashtabula Area City Schools District picked a retired Ashtabula teacher and two incumbents Tuesday to fill three open school board positions.

Christine Seuffert, a teacher with the Ashtabula Area City School District for 36 years, was the top vote-getter with 3,437 votes, according to the unofficial results of the Ashtabula County Board of Elections.

Seuffert, who already attends 99 percent of the school board meetings, is very active in all aspects of the school district.

An Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Deputy, James Hudson Jr., successfully retained his seat with 3,312 votes. Hudson was appointed to the board earlier this year by Probate Judge Charles Hague when board member Michael Franklin resigned, citing a conflict of interest. Franklin is also the city solicitor.

The president of the school board, incumbent Janine Trebuchon-Wertz, garnered 3,199 votes, securing her bid for re-election.

Political newcomer, Debbie Wright of Plymouth Township, lost by only 29 votes. The substitute teacher and mother of four Ashtabula Area City schoolchildren campaigned hard for a seat on the board.

Former school board member David Sheldon resigned about a month ago, citing a conflict of interest, but his name appeared on the ballot because he was running for re-election. There were absentee voters who cast their votes for him, according to the Election Board.

Sheldon also is a part-time magistrate with the Ashtabula Municipal Court.

Now, Sheldon’s seat is vacant. School board members said they hope Hague will appoint a winner of the election to the post.

JEFFERSON SCHOOL BOARD

Pat Inman will be the new face on the Jefferson School Board as the voters made their choices Tuesday, according to the unofficial results by the Ashtabula County Board of Elections.

Voters in the Jefferson Area Local Schools District chose from a slate of five candidates to fill three open board positions.

Marianne Sowry, Larry Divine and Inman came out as the winners in the unofficial count.

“I want to say thank you to the voters and I pray that I will be able to handle this position with grace and dignity,” Inman said whose unofficial count was 2,261 or 32 percent of the vote. Divine’s unofficial count was 1,298 or 18 percent of the vote.

“I just want to thank the voters for their support,” Divine said.

Sowry’s unofficial county was 1,448 or 20 percent of the vote.

“I am so happy to have the privilege of serving another term,” Sowry said. “I appreciate the support of the voters.”

Candidate hopeful Janet Kalas earned 1,071 unofficial votes or 15 percent, and Dianna L. Hanson earned 1,050 or 14 percent.

Total number of unofficial votes counted were 7,128.

GENEVA SCHOOL BOARD

Geneva Area City Schools Board of Education members Richard Trice and David Foote retained their seats on the board, voters decided Tuesday, unofficial Ashtabula County Board of Elections results show.

Joining them on the board is newcomer Jessecca Wilt, who ran a campaign of approachability.

Trice led the ballot with 2,612 votes (25 percent), while Foote took 2,464 votes (23 percent, and Wilt, who led the voting early on, won 2,601 votes (25 percent), unofficial election board results show.

Foote and Trice said they are excited to continue work on the district construction projects and both said the district’s “excellent” rating on the Ohio Report Card is a significant achievement for the district.

“Four years ago, when I ran the first time, none of the school buildings in our system was achieving an ‘excellent’ rating. The most recent state report card had Geneva High School and Geneva Elementary achieving an ‘excellent’ rating,” Foote said. “Remarkably, Geneva Elementary had been on ‘academic watch’ just a few years ago and was recently highlighted by WKYC-Channel 3 for their outstanding achievement. Geneva Schools achieved the highest indicator levels of any other system in Ashtabula County. This has happened by plan and by concerted effort of all employed by the system, students and parents and guardians.”

Trice said good things are happening in the district and he is proud to be “part of a winning team.”

“This is truly an exciting time in the history of Geneva Schools, from the completion of a new high school to the construction of Geneva-Platt R. Spencer Elementary and the Geneva Middle School, to the design and planning for Austinburg Elementary and Cork Elementary,” he said.

Wilt said she is “honored the voters chose me for this job.”

“I am so excited,” she said. “I get more and more excited as the numbers come in,” she said as she waited for results at the board of elections office Tuesday night.

Wilt said she is looking to revamp the way the board accepts bids and also said her main goal is to make the board of education accessible to the community.

Contributing to this story were Margie Trax Page and Ellen Kolman.