School bond approved in Shiner, Werner-Mendel wins lone school board race

Shiner voters approved a roughly $4.3 million school bond on Saturday, which the school’s board of directors has said will go toward new classroom space and other needed expansions at the steadily growing local school district.

That’s according to unofficial election results Saturday night, which also showed Tommy Schuette and Bucky Boehm retaining their seats unopposed and Michelle Werner-Mendel joining the school board to replace Christine Presley, who opted not to run again for another term.

Werner-Mendel faced Brandon S. Siegel in the only contested school board race, defeating him 241-171 to win 58.5% of the votes, relying mostly on 104 early voters and 97 election day voters and 40 absentee voters to secure the victory, unofficial results showed.

Siegel had served on the SISD board until last summer, when he stepped down upon learning his brother -in-law was applying for the high school principal’s vacancy the school faced at the beginning of the school year, a job he was later accepted for. Bucky Boehm was appointed to fill his unexpired seat.

Shuette and Boehm secured 366 votes and 379 votes for their uncontested seats, respectively, unofficial results also showed.

But it was the results of the bond election that truly won the night’s top interest, with district residents voting 278-152 in support of the $4,250,000 bond project, winning the measure with 64.65% of the vote, unofficial results showed.

Absentee voters were split on the measure, voting 35 for and 32 against, but early and election day voters clearly won the day with 130-54 and 113-66 finishes, respectively, according to unofficial results.

The results will not become “official” until they are reviewed and approved by their respective boards.