In the two contested Issaquah School Board races, both incumbents held to their seats with initial counts in the 60 percentile.

“The community understands that the board is doing a good job,” said incumbent Brian Deagle. “They like what they’ve seen and they want to see more.”

Deagle took 65 percent of the count Wednesday night, and his challenger, Patrick Sansing, took 35 percent.

Incumbent Suzanne Weaver held just as strong with 64 percent of the count, and Challenger Brian Neville took 36 percent.

Anne Moore, who is new to the board, ran unopposed.

The school board race had more challengers than the Issaquah City Council race, but there wasn’t a unifying issue.

The challengers really just wanted to get involved, Weaver said. “Honestly I appreciate that. I applaud that.”

Deagle’s focus in the next term will be to focus on how to continue improving education with continual budget cuts from the state.

Weaver echoed those sentiments.

“The handwriting is on the wall with governor and what she plans to cut,” she said. “We can’t let those cuts hurt the students.”

Deagle’s focus will also be on moving faster and creating more sustainable changes for future boards, he said.

“The message is that we’re doing well as a district,” he said. “We want to do even better, and we’re on the right track.”