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Farmersville Unified appoints Merced Zamora to fill vacant school board seat after two-round written ballot
Summary
After interviewing two finalists, the Farmersville Unified School District Board voted by written ballot and appointed Merced Zamora III to serve the remainder of a two-year term; Zamora recited the oath of office at the meeting.
The Farmersville Unified School District Board of Trustees appointed Merced Zamora III to the board vacancy following interviews and a two-round written-ballot process that produced a majority for Zamora.
Board President Alice Lopez opened the interviews and Superintendent Manuel Mendez administered the process that required each trustee to submit a numbered written ballot and then read their choice aloud. After the first round resulted in a 2-2 split between Merced Zamora and Cynthia Godwin, trustees held a second ballot; Zamora received the majority and the board completed his provisional appointment. A motion to finalize the appointment was made by John Alvarez and seconded by Freddy Espinosa. The board then administered the oath of office to Zamora, who was seated immediately as a governing board member to serve through the next district election in November 2026.
The interviews were conducted in open session in accordance with the Brown Act and the board followed the procedure announced in the meeting packet: trustees asked identical sets of questions to each candidate, and ballots were read aloud and entered into the minutes. During his interview, Zamora described his background as a lifelong community member, his experience in the migrant program, and his career in law enforcement, including supervisory and grant responsibilities; he said he is ‘‘here for the long run’’ and that his family connection to the district motivates his service. Cynthia Godwin described long-term volunteer work across classroom and extracurricular activities and said she ran for election twice to help students and improve district outcomes.
After the ballots were counted and read, the board requested Zamora come forward to take the oath. The oath, administered during the meeting, recited support for the U.S. and California constitutions and the commitment to ‘‘faithfully discharge’’ the duties of the office. Following the oath, board members welcomed Zamora to the dais and noted his term will run until the November 2026 election unless he seeks election to continue.
The board also recorded on the meeting’s minutes that the appointment procedure and ballots followed the district’s January 28, 2025 agenda instructions. No other candidate selection motions were made once the majority vote for Zamora was recorded.
