With 42 of 47 precincts reporting, Barbara Klausner, Melissa Baten Caswell, and Camille Townsend are leading in today’s school board election.

The three are currently beating out Wynn Hausser, Claude Ezran and Pingyu Liu, who are in fourth, fifth, and sixth place, respectively. The top three candidates will be seated on the Palo Alto Board of Education for the coming term.

Klausner is the clear winner with a total of 29.49 percent of the popular vote, with Caswell trailing at 20.08 percent. The race is still up for grabs with Townsend holding 17.27 percent of the vote, closely followed by Hausser with 16.34 percent. Ezran and Liu are at the lagging end of the race, with 12.28 percent and 4.53 percent, respectively.

Townsend was the only incumbent running in the election, and is the current president of the school board. Klausner works as a PAUSD educator, and Caswell is a full-time volunteer for the district.

The Campanile endorsed Townsend, Klauser and Ezran, praising Townsend’s determination and leadership and Klauser’s willingness to involve students in the board’s concerns.

Current school board members Gail Price and Mandy Lowell will vacate their seats for the incoming board members, along with Townsend, in the event that she is not re-elected.

Each school board member is eligible to serve two four year terms. Tom’s and Mitchell’s terms will end in 2009.

Visit http://www.sccgov.org/elections/results/nov2007/ for more details.