Teacher-backed challengers ahead in Tam Union board race’s first count

Three Mill Valley challengers endorsed by the district’s teachers union led the race for three Tamalpais Union High School District board seats in election-night returns, with board President Cynthia Roenisch running fifth.

Valerie Wynn, a retired district teacher, led the seven-candidate field with 13,990 votes, on 48.5% of ballots counted. Brian Sutherland, an appellate and constitutional lawyer, had 13,097, on 45.4% of ballots, and Joy Scully Koo, an engineer with an MBA, had 10,358, on 35.9%, according to the first preliminary results Marin County elections officials posted at 8:25 p.m. Nov. 3.

Former board President Leslie Harlander, a retired civil engineer, was fourth with 6,261 votes, on 21.7% of ballots, just ahead of Roenisch’s 6,152, on 21.3%, and more than 4,000 votes behind Koo. Spanish teacher Maria Sandoval had 4,078, on 14.1%, and Kevin Saavedra, who resigned from the board Oct. 9, had 3,520, on 12.2%.

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The results are preliminary. That first update counted 59,846 ballots countywide, about 34% of Marin’s 173,804 registered voters. Results are not official until the county certifies them.

The district runs Redwood High School, the main public high school for Tiburon and Belvedere students, and Tamalpais High School, which serves Strawberry, along with Archie Williams High School in San Anselmo and two alternative schools. Board members are elected districtwide, so the race was on every peninsula ballot.

How the peninsula voted

Taken together, peninsula voters put Sutherland first. In Tiburon’s precincts, he drew 1,063 votes to Wynn’s 1,006, and in Belvedere 261 to her 226. Strawberry voters put Wynn narrowly ahead, 419 to 406.

Koo was third in all three communities, with 706 votes in Tiburon, 176 in Belvedere and 310 in Strawberry. Harlander ran fourth in Tiburon with 639 votes, and Roenisch was fourth in Belvedere with 140 and in Strawberry with 234.

Ballots counted so far stood at 2,472 of 7,553 registered voters in Tiburon, 598 of 1,618 in Belvedere and 1,032 of 3,081 in Strawberry.

A board in turmoil

The third seat was open because board member Emily Uhlhorn did not seek reelection. She will finish her term and become executive director of the Tam High Foundation in January.

Saavedra stepped down the day after a judge granted a district parent a three-year civil harassment restraining order against him. His name stayed on the ballot, but he stopped campaigning and said he would not serve if elected. If he wins a seat, the board would have 60 days to appoint a replacement or call a special election.

Roenisch, a Corte Madera resident who teaches Advanced Placement English at Alameda High School, ran on experience, arguing at the League of Women Voters’ Sept. 28 forum that the district needed seasoned board members as budgets tighten. At a board meeting in October, parents faulted her for not publicly disciplining Saavedra, and at least one called on her to resign. She said she would not.

Most of the challengers campaigned on rebuilding trust after a string of 3-2 votes, including the June 2025 decision not to renew $250,000 in contracts with consultants who ran support programs for Black students at Tamalpais High and the April 14 bell-to-bell cellphone ban. Roenisch, Saavedra and board member Jennifer Holden formed the majority each time.

The teachers union and the Marin Democratic Party endorsed Koo, Sutherland and Wynn, and a committee called Tam Union Governance Alliance supported the three while opposing Harlander, Saavedra and Roenisch, according to campaign-finance disclosures.

What’s next

The new board takes over a basic-aid district, funded mainly by local property taxes, whose enrollment fell from 5,146 students in 2020-2021 to 4,316 last school year and which has made $3.57 million in staffing cuts since February 2025 to hold its reserves. Its Measure M parcel tax, now $560 a parcel and about 14% of a district budget of about $130 million, expires in June 2029.

No Tam Union measure was on the Nov. 3 ballot. The board discussed in June whether to seek a renewal this fall but took no action before the Aug. 7 deadline. Wynn said at the forum that contract talks with the Tamalpais Federation of Teachers begin next year.

Members elected Nov. 3 take office Dec. 11.

Reach Executive Editor Kevin Hessel at 415-435-2652.