Molly ShoreIn the general election earlier this...

Molly Shore

In the general election earlier this month for the two remaining

Burbank Unified School District school board seats, the real race

came down to the third seat, with retired teacher Ted Bunch and

businessman Larry Applebaum battling for each vote in the city’s 42

precincts.

Bunch came out the winner, by 449 votes, along with top

vote-getter Paul Krekorian, who is an attorney. Incumbent Mike

McDonald was a distant fourth.

“I should have started walking precincts a lot sooner,” Applebaum

said of his loss. He did not start campaigning until January.

In several precincts to the west of the Golden State (5) Freeway,

Applebaum and Bunch ran neck and neck, but Applebaum said he

struggled because Bunch is a longtime resident of that area. In

Precinct 42, a wedge-shaped area bounded by Vanowen Street on the

south and the city limits on the north, Bunch received two more votes

than Applebaum, and in an adjacent precinct south of Vanowen Street,

Bunch again led Applebaum by two votes.

Krekorian received at least 30% of the votes in more than half of

the city’s precincts. In one precinct east of the Golden State (5)

Freeway, near the Glendale border, Krekorian amassed 52.4% of the

vote.

“It was important that all of us who were elected appealed to all

parts of the city,” Krekorian said. “It would be unfortunate if the

city had clear divisions in electing a new board.”

Krekorian won 23 of the city’s 42 precincts and tied with Bunch in

a precinct between Hollywood Way and the city’s border with the Los

Angeles portion of Toluca Lake. Both candidates received 21 votes in

this precinct, while Applebaum trailed closely with 18 votes.

One trend that remained constant was voter dissatisfaction with

the current school board. Although incumbent Mike McDonald squeezed

through the February primary, in the general election he finished

last in all but one precinct, sometimes by just a few votes, but most

times, lagging at a distant fourth.

Bunch and McDonald did not return calls for comment.

On May 15, Krekorian and Bunch will join Dave Kemp, who won the

third open seat in the February primary election, when the three are

sworn in as school board members.