Coin toss decides
school election
Sullivan calls "heads"
again—and wins
"I’m surprised there are this many people here."
- Gary Stivers, school board candidate, before losing a
second election-tie-breaking coin toss
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
Although Blaine school officials said they hadn’t experienced it before,
an Idaho education official said school board election ties aren’t a particularly
unusual experience. During the May 16 school board election, 12-year incumbent Lita
Sullivan and challenger Gary Stivers each received 49 votes.
The tie-breaker? According to state law, a coin toss.
During a special meeting held Thursday at the school district office in
Hailey, district superintendent Jim Lewis, district election clerk Cathy Zaccardi, a
quorum (barely) of four school board officials, and a handful of facetious onlookers met
for the brief event.
"I’m surprised there are this many people here," said
Stivers, a local radio newsman.
In a way, the Thursday toss was a reprieve for Stivers, who lost an
earlier coin flip just after the election. Zaccardi declared that toss illegal later that
evening after she reread the election rules, which mandate that the board of trustees
conduct the toss.
"I still like paper, scissors, rock," declared trustee Claudia
Fiaschetti early during Thursday’s 15-minute gathering.
The coin was an old-style quarter.
Early in the week the candidates had decided what side of the coin they
wanted.
Sullivan got "heads," Stivers "tails."
Vice chair Janet Askew snapped the coin into the air, where it flipped and
glittered in a graceful arch before tumbling onto the carpet.
It landed heads up.
"Twice," said Stivers who was clearly disappointed that his
plans to join the school board were dashed by the mere 180 degree rotation of a coin.
Superintendent Lewis consoled Stivers, asked him to please "stay
interested," then said Stivers better "go check his lucky well."
When asked if he’ll run again in the next election, Stivers said,
"I remain as interested as ever, so I presume if everything stays the same, I
will."
Sullivan, a 12-year school board member and current chairperson, said
during a telephone call before the coin toss that she would be disappointed to lose the
election.
"I feel I’ve done a good job in my tenure," Sullivan said.
"I would like to serve one more term. I understand the taxation system in Idaho, the
[school] funding system, and I’ve been involved with contract negotiations."
Stivers, who has never held public office, is an outspoken proponent of
schools’ teaching character education, which he prefers to call "emotional
education."
"What I’m mainly interested in is that high school not be a
river of pain for anybody," he said.
