Petition overrides Newport Mesa Unified trustee’s appointment, election to fill vacant seat set for June
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A special election in June will decide who fills a vacant seat on the Newport Mesa Unified School District’s board of trustees, after a petition garnered enough votes to override the appointment of a candidate selected in a split decision in January.
The Orange County Registrar of Voters confirmed a petition had succeeded in forcing a special election set for June 10, and solicited potential candidates in a news release posted Tuesday. Those interested were given until the end of the week, Friday March 14, to get their name on the ballot.
Due to the shortened filing period, candidates must file documents declaring their intent to run in person during regular business hours at the Registrar’s office, 1300 S. Grand Ave., Building C in Santa Ana. Registered voters who live in trustee Area 5, which includes neighborhoods served by Newport Elementary, Ensign Intermediate and Newport Harbor High, will be asked to weigh in.
This development ousts the person appointed to fill the seat, Kirstin Walsh. She’s a licensed occupational therapist with children attending Newport Harbor High.
Trustee Ashley Anderson was among the three members of the board who supported Walsh’s appointment, and described her as a person who makes decisions “based on information that comes to us and is not based on national political things that are not necessarily relevant to us,” during a meeting on Jan. 27.
Board President Krista Weigand and Trustee Lisa Pearson voted against Walsh’s appointment, noting that her predecessor, Michelle Barto, had the support of 65% of voters when she was elected to the seat in 2022. They suggested someone with views similar to hers should have been chosen.
Barto vacated her spot on the board after winning a seat on the Newport Beach City Council in the November election. Whoever replaces her would serve until December 2026.
Walsh plans to run for the seat. She told the Daily Pilot via text she was on her way to file paperwork at the Registrar’s office Thursday afternoon.
