There were two school board elections held in Nov. 2023 - one for the Natomas School district and the other for Trustee Area 7 for the San Juan Unified School District. While SJUSD Trustee Area 7 covers Citrus Heights, the special election for that seat matters to our part of the unincorporated UnCity because the San Juan Board makes decisions that impact the entire district - like the hasty decision to put a large middle school at the old Creekside Elementary School site.

Manuel Perez was the winner of the Trustee Area 7 race. He won by a margin of 432 votes in an election that had just 19% voter turnout. Don't ever let anyone tell you that every vote does not count. Or that elections for local governments like the SJUSD Board are not important. The SJUSD Board has made a mess of things at
Creekside, to the point where the project is now 6 months behind schedule and has upset the District's implemenetation of new school boundaries.

Unfortunately, the turmoil at San Juan is not over yet. Things won't be settled until Nov. 2024 when 3 seats will be decided: open seats in Trustee Areas 1 (no incumbent) and 4 (incumbent Saul Hernanadez is retiring) and the Trustee Area 2 seat the currently has 2 members of the school board (Pamela Costa and Paula Villescaz) who may or may not decide to file for the seat.