Merle "Mel" Kleven
Merle "Mel" Kleven was the Trustee Area 1 representative on the Lancaster Board of Education. He first joined the board in 1995 and served until December 2015.[1]
Kleven sought another term in the general election on November 3, 2015.[2] He lost the election.[3]
Elections
2015
Opposition
Two of the five seats on the Lancaster School District Board of Education were up for general election on November 3, 2015. The election was held by district.[4][5] The seats of incumbents Merle "Mel" Kleven and John Lee Miller from Trustee Areas 1 and 3, respectively, were on the ballot.[1]
Kleven ran against five challengers: Debra Cook-Lewis, Susan Corso, Cheryl Gayfield, Keith Giles and George Chris Zelazo. Giles won the seat. Miller did not file to run for the Trustee Area 3 seat. The race featured five candidates: William "Bill" Buck, Antoine Hawkins, Shannon Renee McDonald, Chuck Simons and Gregory Tepe. Tepe won the election.[6][3]
Kevin Fryer and Brett Sinclair Hitchcock originally filed to run for the Trustee Area 1 seat and Jayson Stonne filed for the Trustee Area 3 seat, but all three of them withdrew from the race.[7]
Results
| Lancaster School District, Trustee Area 1, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Keith Giles |
27.2% | 215 |
| Merle "Mel" Kleven Incumbent | 22.8% | 180 |
| Susan Corso | 19.9% | 157 |
| Debra Cook-Lewis | 13.6% | 107 |
| Cheryl Gayfield | 11.2% | 88 |
| George Chris Zelazo | 5.3% | 42 |
| Total Votes | 789 | |
| Source: "Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "NOVEMBER 03, 2015 - LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATED ELECTIONS: Final Official Election Results," accessed November 24, 2015 | ||
Funding
At the time of this election, the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk did not publish school board candidate campaign finance reports online. Ballotpedia staffers requested this information, but the only free method of viewing the files was at their office.
The Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk targeted the end of 2018 to make school board candidate campaign finance reports available online for free. From that point forward, Ballotpedia began including campaign finance data for Los Angeles County school board candidates.[8][9][10]
The first campaign finance reporting deadline was September 24, 2015, and the second one was October 22, 2015. If candidates raised or spent more than $1,000 from a single source, including their own funds, between August 5, 2015, and November 2, 2015, they had to file a campaign finance report within 24 hours.[11]
If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at schoolboards@ballotpedia.org.
Endorsements
Kleven received no official endorsements in this election.
2011
On November 8, 2011, two seats on the Lancaster School District Board of Education were up for election. Candidates Merle "Mel" Kleven and John Lee Miller were unopposed and won the uncontested election.
About the district
- See also: Lancaster School District, California
Lancaster School District is located in Los Angeles County in southwestern California. The county seat is Los Angeles.[12] Los Angeles County was home to 10,116,705 residents in 2014, according to the United States Census Bureau.[13] During the 2012-2013 school year, Lancaster School District was the 109th-largest school district by enrollment in California and served 14,713 students.[14]
Demographics
Los Angeles County underperformed compared to the rest of California in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 29.7 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 30.7 percent for California as a whole. The median household income for Los Angeles County was $55,909, compared to $61,094 for the entire state. The percentage of people below poverty level was 17.8 percent, compared to 15.9 percent statewide.[13]
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Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Merle 'Mel' Kleven' 'Lancaster School District'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Lancaster School District, California
- Lancaster School District, California elections (2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lancaster School District, "Meet the Board," accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Candidate List: Local And Municipal Consolidated Elections - 11/3/2015," accessed August 14, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "NOVEMBER 03, 2015 - LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATED ELECTIONS: Semi-Final Official Election Returns," accessed November 5, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, “2015 Scheduled Elections,” accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, “Running for Office,” accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Candidate List: Local And Municipal Consolidated Elections - 11/3/2015," accessed August 14, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Local and Municipal Consolidated Elections: Final List of Qualified Candidates to Appear on the Ballot," accessed October 28, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed July 2, 2014
- ↑ Daniel Anderson, “Email communication with Brenda Duran, Los Angeles County Public Information Officer," October 7, 2016
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Brenda Duran, Los Angeles County Public Information Officer," January 2, 2018
- ↑ Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 3, 2015," accessed August 5, 2015
- ↑ Geology.com, "California County Map with County Seat Cities," accessed September 23, 2015
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 United States Census Bureau, "Los Angeles County, California," accessed August 7, 2015
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed April 29, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Past Election Results," accessed July 1, 2014
| 2015 Lancaster School District Elections | |
| Los Angeles County, California | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | Trustee Area 1: • Incumbent, Merle "Mel" Kleven • Debra Cook-Lewis • Susan Corso • Cheryl Gayfield • Keith Giles • George Chris Zelazo Trustee Area 3: • William "Bill" Buck • Antoine Hawkins • Shannon Renee McDonald • Chuck Simons • Gregory Tepe |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
