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Successful petition forces special election in Newport-Mesa Unified after school board appointment

March 12, 2025

Kirstin Walsh, appointed in late January to the Newport Mesa Unified School Board, has been ousted following a successful petition campaign to force instead a special election to fill the vacant seat.

The Orange County Registrar of Voters announced on Tuesday, March 11, a special election will be held June 10, with a very tight window for anyone in the district’s Trustee Area 5 interested in running as a candidate to fill the remaining term of the open seat to file with the elections office.

The deadline to file is Friday, March 14. To be a candidate, you must live in the district’s Area 5, be a registered voter and complete the filing packet with the Registrar of Voters Office — find more information and details at ocvote.gov or call 714-567-7600.

Area 5 encompasses the neighborhoods feeding Newport Elementary, Ensign Intermediate and Newport Harbor High School.

The Orange County Superintendent of Schools ordered the election on Monday, after the Registrar of Voters verified enough signatures — 361 — had been submitted on a petition to require the special election and terminate Walsh’s provisional appointment by the school board – there was a 30-day window to submit the petition signatures for validation.

The seat is vacant as of March 6, according to a district spokesperson.

Walsh was chosen by a school board majority in January to fill the Area 5 seat left vacant when former Trustee Michelle Barto was elected to the Newport Beach City Council. The winner of the special election will fill the seat until Barto’s term would have been up in November 2026, when the seat will again be on the ballot for a full four-year term.

Walsh, 53, a mother of a sophomore and senior attending Newport Harbor High and the school PTA president, said she was stunned by the effort to force the special election. She said she isn’t taking it personally, though, and will mount a campaign to win her seat back in June.

“I was there for five weeks and my heart was in it,” she said. “Based on principle, I’m going to fight for this. I’m truly in this because I believe in this.”

Walsh said what upsets her most is the district will be out “almost half-a-million dollars” paying for the special election to be held.

The Registrar of Voters gave the district cost estimates of $445,000 to $494,000 for a special election with a vote center and $282,000 to $332,000 for just mail-in balloting.

“I talked to Superintendent (Wesley) Smith and said, ‘If I don’t go forward with this, then does the district still get the money,’ and he said no. Regardless, they still have to do the election even if there is only one person (running),” Walsh said. “That’s also what’s driving me so heavily. It’s the students’ money.”

Walsh said she had no idea the petition drive was going on and, at first, didn’t realize it was an option. After she was appointed, she said she started to hear that some people were unhappy with her selection.

Orange County Register

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Successful petition forces special election in Newport-Mesa Unified after school board appointment

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