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Suzanne Dale Estey

Sue Peters

UPDATE: 9:19 p.m.:

Suzanne Dale Estey and Sue Peters both said they expected the race to be close. Dale Estey isn’t giving up yet.

“I am really hopeful that we’re going to pull this off,” said Dale Estey, who had about 48 percent of the vote in first day returns. “It was a tough campaign and Sue’s supporters are tenacious and she got her voters out and I commend her for that.”

Peters, who had just over 51 percent of the vote, said she wasn’t daunted by the money advantage or the negative ads that appeared in voters’ mailboxes last week, courtesy of Great Seattle Schools, an independent committee backing her opponent.

“The money was a challenge, of course, but we ran a smart, agile campaign,” Peters said. “We ran a campaign with integrity and I think that resonated with Seattle voters.”

UPDATE: 8:21 p.m.

Sue Peters led Suzanne Dale Estey by 3 percentage points in initial results Tuesday for one of two open Seattle school board seats.

Stephan Blanford easily led LaCrese Green for the other open seat, with nearly 88 percent of the votes going his way.

Incumbent board member Betty Patu ran unopposed for the third seat.

ORIGINAL POST:

Voters today will elect three members ­– including filling two open seats — to the Seattle School Board.

Freelance journalist Sue Peters faces Suzanne Dale Estey, Renton’s former economic-development director, for one open seat.

The other open seat is a race between Stephan Blanford, a consultant with a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies, and LaCrese Green, a long time tutor of children of Ethiopian immigrants.

LaCrese Green

Stephan Blanford

Incumbent board member Betty Patu ran unopposed for her seat.

The contest between Dale Estey and Peters became one of the hottest races in the election. The candidates framed the contest in ways that turned it into a referendum on the current board’s majority.

Dale Estey argued that the board has become distracted by infighting and micromanagement of the administration. Dale Estey promised to bring the right temperament and professionalism to the job.

Peters defended the board, arguing that the issue of infighting has been hyped by corporate elites backing Dale Estey who want a passive board and favor charter schools and other reforms that she says undermine public education. Peters argued that she had a record of opposing such reforms, both in her writing and in her work as a parent activist.

In this year’s closest race for Seattle School Board, Suzanne Dale Estey and Sue Peters were leading in Tuesday’s returns, setting up what likely will continue to be a spirited campaign between the two candidates.

Dale Estey, a government-relations and public-affairs consultant, had nearly 48 percent of the votes counted Tuesday.  Peters, a freelance writer and education activist, was second with 41 percent.  Dean McColgan, the third candidate in the District 4 race, was a distant third with nearly 11 percent.

District 4 covers Queen Anne, Magnolia and part of Ballard.

In District 5, which covers much of central Seattle and Capitol Hill, education consultant Stephan Blanford had a large lead with 78 percent of the votes counted. LaCrese Green, a private tutor, was second with about 13 percent and parent Olu Thomas was third with about 8 percent.

Incumbent Betty Patu, running unopposed in District 7, advances to the general election automatically.

In the primary,  school board candidates run only in their districts.  In each race, the two candidates with the most votes advance to general election, which then is decided by voters citywide.

In the races for Seattle School board, an independent group that’s raised $32,750 has sent out a negative advertisement targeting candidate Sue Peters and promoting one of her two opponents, Suzanne Dale Estey.

The group, which calls itself Great Seattle Schools, declared that Dale Estey is the “candidate for change” while Peters would offer “more of the same,” painting Peters as someone who would add to the problems that have plagued the school board over the past few years.

Peters has criticized the ad, saying it misrepresents or omits her views, qualifications and endorsements.

The ad is unfounded, she said.  “I have the support of four of the current school board members and what that means is that I have their respect, and I will be able to work with the board in a constructive manner if I am elected.”

On her website, she has a point-by-point rebuttal, including refuting that she would oppose any grant that Seattle Public Schools might receive from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Like many others,” she wrote, “I was disturbed to see supporters of my opponents resort to such dishonest tactics on her behalf, and so early in the race.”

Dale Estey said she first saw the ad when it arrived in her mailbox.  She said the law doesn’t allow her to have any knowledge of what independent campaign groups do.   She said she agrees with the ad’s main message, although she has mixed feelings about its negative approach.

Asked whether she had expressed those misgivings to the group, she said:  “If members of the business community are fed up with the status quo of the school board and chose to articulate that – I’m not going to illegally try to inhibit their freedom of speech.”

All but $2,750 of the $32,750 traised to date came from two individuals:  Real estate developer Matt Griffin and former Microsoft executive Chris Larson. The rest came from the Civil Alliance for a Sound Economy, a political action committee sponsored by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.  In its paperwork to the state’s Public Disclosure Commission, the group says it also plans to support Stephan Blanford, one of the candidates in the District 5 race, which covers Central Seattle and Capitol Hill.

Peters and Dale Estey are two of the candidates running for an open seat in District 4, which covers Queen Anne, Magnolia and part of Ballard. The other is Dean McColgan, a former Federal Way councilman.

Griffin and Larson have also contributed directly to Dale Estey’s campaign – donating the limit of $1,800 apiece.