A familiar face returned to Tuesday night’s board meeting at the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District.
Kenny Enney was sworn in for the second time at the meeting, returning to the school board just five months after he was kicked off.
A crowd of people supporting Enney gathered at district headquarters Tuesday evening.
“Now’s where the real work starts,” said Enney shortly before re-pledging the oath of office.
Applause rang out as he re-joined the seven-member school board.
“Probably my biggest concern is the academic performance and fixing, that as well as student safety and figuring out how to bring the community back together to accomplish that, those are the biggest challenges,” said Enney.
Supporters who came out say they are disappointed about the anticipated cost of last month’s special election, which could be close to $500,000, according to the SLO County Clerk-Recorder.
“It all just came back around and we’re back at square one,” said Enney supporter Hunter Breese. “I’m a little disappointed to see all the money wasted that should have been going to the students.”
“Waste of time, waste of money,” added Peter Byrne, who also supported Enney. “All they had to do was wait another year and they wouldn’t have had an election that would have cost who knows, anywhere from $150 to $500,000.”
Enney won the April 18 special election after running to reclaim his spot on the school board.
He was ousted from his position at the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District back in December following a Facebook post seen by some as exclusionary to the LGBTQ community.
A petition calling for a special election to remove Enney gathered 512 signatures.
After reclaiming his position, Kenny says he hopes to improve test scores and crack down on drug use.
“First and foremost, we need to look at performance-based advancement; looking at expanding summer school, looking at holding the students accountable,” said Enney about the next steps.
School board officials tell KSBY that they haven’t received an official cost estimate for last month’s special election.
