POULSBO — Retired principal Glen Robbins and school board member Scott Henden were the two top vote-getters in the primary election for North Kitsap School Board District 4, Aug. 4.

As of 8 p.m. election night, Robbins received 3,394 votes, Henden received 2,388, and Loretta Byrnes, a program analyst, received 1,385.

More ballots are expected to be counted, with updated results posted at 5 p.m. Aug. 5, but Robbins and Henden had enough of a lead to advance to the Nov. 3 general election.

Countywide, the voter turnout for six primaries was 20.2 percent, according to the county elections office website. Some 24,051 ballots were received as of election night; another 2,000 remained to be counted.

Byrnes, who is working out of the country and was unreachable for comment, campaigned as a problem solver.

“The school district came up with a strategic plan and I have a lot of experience in that,” Byrnes said in an earlier interview. “They have a bunch of goals in the strategic plan, but it’s not clear what the activities are [to ensure they meet those goals].

“I’m very analytical. I would like the school board, the school district, to look at the bigger issues. If 30 percent of third graders cannot read, why’s that? If 30 percent of fifth-graders can’t read at grade level or at the third-grade level, should you send them on to middle school?”

Byrnes’ youngest child graduated from Kingston High School in June 2015. She started attending school board meetings in September 2014, where she noticed a lack of adequate communication between district administration and families. She campaigned on the goal of improving those lines of communication.

In a July 21 candidate forum, Byrnes said, “I think the school district, there are certain issues that they should be aware that they need to communicate on. The school district should actually organize a meeting (and) invite community members, with a planned presentation but invite questions and comments.”

Henden, an electrical contractor who is running for his second term on the school board, said he tries to be “balanced” in his position and he thinks that resonated with voters.

“There’s a lot of pressure on the boards from different sides,” Henden said. “That doesn’t mean that’s bad.

“I’ve done a good job, I’ve been balanced and I’ve represented all kids.”

Henden has campaigned as an advocate for students who plan to go into the workforce post-graduation, instead of pursuing college education.

“I have had the opportunity for 30 years to hire young people coming out of school and teach them a trade,” Henden said.

“If I wanted to advocate for somebody — all of them certainly deserve it, but I think watching out for the average kid that’s going to school, that’s doing OK — that’s something that’s important to me.”

In the coming months, Henden said he will continue reaching out to voters through “typical outreach for the campaign.”

“As a board member, I’ve tried to remember that it is a citizens’ school,” Henden said. “It really is a citizens’ district and I hope I’ve represented them well.”

Robbins said his experience as an educator (he has been a teacher, principal and administrator in the NKSD) is something he thinks has really stood out to voters.

“I think that it’s my educator lens and understanding how schools work and understanding [the] school family and staff,” Robbins said.

In an earlier interview, Robbins said, “There’s business people, in the past there’s been medical personnel, business leaders [on the school board] … I look through the lens as an educator, not only as a teacher but as an administrator. I understand how kids learn, I understand how teachers can do the best job in their classroom.”

Robbins has run on the idea that his personal experience in various education positions will give him a unique and needed perspective on the school board.

“The job I would be needing to really focus in on (if elected) is listening to all the stakeholders, school personnel and community, and see what (needs improving), what we can do, to implement changes that we identify need to happen,” Robbins said.

He said that his campaigning from this point will be a lot of “networking with support people that have been involved in the primary, connecting with the different groups.”

Robbins is currently a member of the North Kitsap Schools Foundation Board, a role he would have to give up if elected to the school board.