Francesca Segrè and David Ackerman are leading the race to fill two open seats on the Menlo Park City School District's governing board, according to results posted by the San Mateo County Elections Office at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5. These results include all ballots except for provisional ballots and a portion of vote-by-mail ballots.

With a little more than 69% of votes counted, Segrè has nearly 47% of the vote, Ackerman has nearly 40% and Robert Maclay trails behind with 13.8%.

"I'm excited by the results so far," Segrè said in an email on election night. "I am grateful to every supporter who believed in me. I would be honored to join such a capable board in such an extraordinary district."

Ackerman, the former principal of Oak Knoll and Encinal schools, has been on the school board for four years. Ackerman has endorsed Segrè, a former journalist who applied for appointment to an open school board seat last fall. Maclay is a district parent whose children attend Oak Knoll.

Besides responding to the challenges from the coronavirus pandemic, newly election board members will face the district's persistent achievement gap between students of different socioeconomic backgrounds and whether the district will renew or replace a parcel tax that district staff has said is only a "temporary solution" to the district's financial woes. Measure X, the parcel tax that passed in 2017 with an initial rate of $360 per parcel, will expire in 2024.

The county will update the vote count at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9.