Former Los Banos Enterprise publisher wins school board seat. He talks about challenges
Former Los Banos Enterprise publisher and advertising director Gene Lieb won the District 1 seat on the Los Banos Unified School Board during a special election for that seat Nov. 5.
The Los Banos resident of 20 years ran a straightforward campaign, he said, knocking on doors and letting people know who he is.
“People do know me and contributed to my campaign,” Lieb said on Monday. “I spent a fair amount of time at the schools and got to know school officials.”
Lieb won his seat on the school board in a race against Patterson High School special education teacher Alma Fabian 225-208 in the race. Approximately three additional votes in the race were for write-in candidates, although it wasn’t immediately clear who the write-in candidates were. A total of 436 people voted in the election.
Lieb takes his seat Nov. 18 at the next regularly scheduled board meeting.
The District 1 seat was left vacant this February after Lieb’s predecessor, Anahi Rodriguez, moved outside of Area 1 and could no longer represent that part of the school district. The rest of the school board decided to let the voters decide who filled the seat after the six remaining board members couldn’t reach a decision about who to appoint.
Others who threw their hat in the ring for the race included former Los Banos Unified School Board member Dennis Areias, who sat on the school board from 1998 to 2018, and Justin Collins, owner of local news media and marketing company Los Banos Talk. Collins ultimately decided not to run, saying he couldn’t cover the school board election if he ran. Areias also ended up not filing as a candidate in the election.
“I feel like the way I can help people the most is just by doing what I’m doing (with) local election coverage,” Collins previously told the Sun-Star. “It’s really the top political issue in town, but honestly this election is one of the most consequential elections locally we’ve had in awhile and probably one of the most paid attention to in Los Banos.”
Lieb, who sent both of his now-grown children to school in the district, said with the influx of residents coming to Los Banos in recent years and new homes being built all the time, new schools are an issue.
“Los Banos is always growing,” Lieb said. “There’s new homes being built, and we need schools for those students. New facilities are important.”
Although he said he doesn’t know what all the school district’s challenges are, he said that as he takes his seat, he looks forward to learning what the major issues are that face students, families and staff in the Los Banos school district.
“I want to build stronger relationships with parents and students,” Lieb said. “I’m looking forward to getting started and learning all I can learn. I need to do what’s in the best interest of students, parents and teachers.”
District 1 includes northeast Los Banos and counts Henry Miller Elementary School, Charleston Elementary School, Los Banos Junior High School and Pacheco High School in its borders. Approximately 14 schools are in the Los Banos Unified School District, and nearly 11,000 students between kindergarten and 12th grade are enrolled in the district.
This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 5:00 AM.