Early returns in the race for Area 5 of the Kern High School District Board showed incumbent Bryan Batey ahead of challenger Michelle Shaw on Tuesday night, with poll data around 10 p.m. putting Batey at 55% of the vote, about 7,300 votes, to Shaw’s 45%, or roughly 6,100 votes.
A Rematch Four Years in the Making
The contest marks the second time Batey and Shaw have faced off for the Area 5 seat, according to KGET, which reported the early vote tally Tuesday night. Batey, a Bakersfield-based businessman and realtor, is seeking another term as the board’s longtime incumbent, while Shaw, an educator, is making her second bid for the seat. The two previously squared off in 2022, when Batey won with 51.29% of the vote, a result reported by KGET at the time.
Batey’s history with the district goes back three decades. As sjvsun.com notes, he served on the board from 1994 to 2004 and again since 2006, a tenure that has also seen him rise to president of the Kern High School District Board. He ran unopposed in both 2014 and 2018, per Turnto23, before facing Shaw for the first time in 2022.
Shaw’s Background in Youth Mentorship
Shaw brings a different résumé to the race. She is the executive director of Pathways to Destiny, which the Sun describes as a prevention and intervention program for at-risk young men and which has also been characterized as a local nonprofit aimed at guiding students toward positive choices and outcomes. Before that work, Shaw served as a teacher, basketball coach, mentor and tutor, giving her a classroom-level perspective on the district she’s now seeking to help oversee.
The seat she’s chasing is one of five on the Kern High School District Board, each representing a distinct geographic area rather than being elected at large, according to the district itself. The Kern High School District describes itself as the largest grade 9-12 high school district in the state, serving more than 42,000 students.
Election Night Logistics
Tuesday’s vote count unfolded under rules set by Kern County, which said live results for the November 3 general election would be available after polls closed at 8 p.m. Pacific time. The 10 p.m. figures reported by KGET represent poll data from that evening and do not reflect a final or certified outcome in the Area 5 race.
Older reporting on the district has pointed to academic challenges that have shaped past campaigns for the board. A Turnto23 profile from the 2022 race noted that only 37% of Kern County students met or exceeded the state standard for English language arts, and only 21% did so for math, with state assessment data at the time showing further declines across grades 3 through 8 and grade 11. Those figures predate the current race and reflect conditions reported during the earlier campaign cycle.
