Steamboat Pilot & Today

Hayden School Board member Jody Camilletti will return for another four-year term after edging former School Board member George Wixson by 30 votes in Tuesday's election.

The vote count for the Director District A race, the only contested race in the Hayden School District, was 227 votes for Camilletti and 197 for Wixson. The early vote count showed that Wixson had the lead 24 to 20, but Tuesday votes from precincts 8 and 17 favored Camilletti 17 to 5, and votes from precincts 11 and 12 favored Camilletti 190 to 168.

"I'm looking forward to continuing what I've done with the current board members," Camilletti said Tuesday evening.

"I know she's a good candidate," Wixson said.

Camilletti said she ran for re-election because she wanted to keep the current School Board together because it is a "very cohesive group," and that she wanted to finish many of the projects that she was part of starting.

Incumbent Troy Wertenberger, who garnered 322 votes in an uncontested race in Director District D, said he sought re-election for similar reasons.

Wixson served on the Hayden School Board from 1988 to 1999, and said he wanted to do it again. In his time on the School Board, Wixson was one of the main proponents of the college credit program that offers college courses -- and credits -- to high school students.

Wixson said he wanted to see more classes implemented that provide college credits because they help the students and the parents. He said the program helped him put his own children through college by saving him thousands of dollars.

"George was definitely a good candidate," Camilletti said. "The interesting part of the whole thing is he asked me to take over on the School Board when his term was up. It's kind of ironic we're running against each other. I guess we can swap it off for the next few years. I'll go a year. He'll go a year."