Duncan Asks for Recanvass on School Board Vote

Unsuccessful school board candidate Thomas Duncan has called for a recanvass in the District 2 election for the Fayette County School Board. Douglas Barnett was the successful candidate.

The Fayette County Board of Elections confirmed to KSN&C this morning that the recanvass will occur during a public meeting of the Elections Board to be held in the County Clerk's Conference Room Friday morning at 9.

A recanvass consists of elections officials comparing totals from the original tapes produced by individual voting machines with the totals the clerks receive through their tallying system.

KSN&C asked, "What happens if the totals differ?"

According to elections officials, due to improvements to the voting system in recent years, "theoretically, there can't be a difference" because the new tallying system draws its totals directly from the individual machines.

Ferguson and Barnett Win FCPS Board Seats

H-L Endorsement Doesn't Sway in FCPS Board Race

Once Fayette County School Board Member Amanda Ferguson got herself "on the bad list" for asking reasonable questions about a bogus report advocating the outsourcing of legal services in the Fayette County schools, she found herself without anyone to talk to. That changed tonight with the election of Attorney Douglas Barnett to the school board. Barnett has been an outspoken critic of the district's student assignment plan.

Add to that the sudden departure of Becky Sagan, and this could become a different board. ...with new math.

Ferguson defeated Realtor Rick Queen, by 500 and change, to win another term representing District 4. Ferguson had distinguished herself as the only board member willing to ask hard questions of Silberman and that didn't go over well with the rest of the team. She has been frozen out.

Doug Barnett squeaked out a victory in District 2 besting Thomas H. Duncan Jr. by two percent. Incumbent Kirk Tinsely, whose tax problems were less of an issue for the Herald-Leader editorial board than they were the voters, finished last. Barnett wants to put Fayette school board meetings on the road and pay for school supplies for all children.

When the H-L reported their endorsements they faulted Ferguson for being an impressive and "engaged parent" volunteer who was "passionate about ensuring every child gets an excellent education" and endorsed Queen. They complained (without any supporting documentation) about some "absences, especially at a public meeting to evaluate the school superintendent." (KSN&C asked Ferguson if she'd like to comment on H-L's claims, but she passed, apparently worried that she might not get fair treatment from a guy with a Rick Queen sign in his yard.)

Then H-L delivered the punch line.

"We do appreciate her willingness to sometimes be a dissenting voice on the
board, such as opposing outsourcing legal work."

Where's the evidence for that?


I think a better argument can be made that the editorial board gets skittish whenever board members show a willingness to challenge the superintendent. They seem to prefer what some KSN&C readers have called "bobbleheads" - Show up, ask easy questions, say "Yes, Stu" a lot. I suspect that characteristic alone cost Ferguson and Barnett the paper's endorsement, but in the end, it didn't matter.

The political math keeps Board Chair John Price and Melissa Bacon aligned. But will Ferguson and Barnett form some kind of alliance? Education Commissioner Terry Holliday will complete the picture when he fills the vacant District 5 seat. Could Stu Silberman end up with a 3-2 board?


In any case, Silberman's contract is secure through 2014. One wonders whether he will be able to advance his agenda with the relative ease he has enjoyed since 2004.