Voters favor Garbolino-Mojica over Swart for superintendent

Gayle Garbolino-Mojica will be the new superintendent of Placer County schools.Garbolino-Mojica pulled in more than 58 percent of the votes in the election Tuesday, defeating David Swart."I'm feeling very happy," she said Tuesday night after 100 percent of Placer County precincts reported their vote counts. "I'm very thankful. I had a lot of support from a lot of elected and appointed officials. It's incredibly humbling and I'm incredibly proud that the voters of Placer County recognized my hard work and experience."The county superintendent is responsible for 17 school districts, 62,666 students and $70 million-plus budget. Garbolino-Mojica will fill the position after current superintendent Alfred "Bud" Nobili retires at the end of the year, after eight years as county superintendent and more than 40 years dedicated to Placer County education. Garbolino-Mojica, a Roseville resident, has family roots in the growing city and is the daughter of Roseville Mayor Gina Garbolino and James Garbolino, retired Placer County superior court judge. Garbolino-Mojica's began her educational work in 1993 as a teacher in Santa Barbara County. She has been superintendent of the Colfax Elementary School District since 2002, a position that she believes made her a good candidate for county superintendent.Swart began his educational career as a teacher in 1974, has worked as a school site administrator and worked for four years as assistant superintendent of educational services for the Auburn Union Elementary School District. Swart left public education in 2004 to take a consulting position with Educational Testing Services.Both candidates hosted parties at their homes Tuesday night while waiting for election results to post on the Placer County Elections Division Web site. Swart shared his night in the spotlight with son Chris, who graduated from E. V. Cain Middle School Tuesday evening. Both father and son's names were printed on the celebratory cake."We ran from the graduation and came home," David said. "We're both experiencing once -in-a-lifetime events."Swart received 41 percent of the Placer County vote."This was a very profound learning experience for me and what I will take away from it is that so many people did so many things in my favor," Swart said Tuesday night. "I truly in my heart wish Gayle the most success in her term as county superintendent."The Journal's Loryll Nicolaisen can be reached at lorylln@goldcountrymedia.com.