Incumbent Bainbridge School Board President Mike Spence was edging challenger Dale Perry for the District 2 position on the Bainbridge Island School Board.

Spence was leading in the first vote count released by the Kitsap County Elections Division on Election Night. Spence had 56 percent of the vote, while Perry had 442 percent.

The first vote tally was 2,507-1,891.

The battle for the District 2 seat is the first contested school board race in a dozen years for Bainbridge.

Perry ran a campaign based on his outsider status, and promised to bring  greater transparency and a business perspective to the board.

A semi-retired utility executive and a former Navy officer, Perry, 52, has also focused on student test scores at Ordway Elementary and has promised to form a task force to address the issue.

Perry has three children in the school district.

Spence, the incumbent, is currently the president of the school board.

An attorney who specializes in real estate and land-use law, Spence, 57, has largely run on the record of the school district’s achievements since he was first elected to the school board in 2009. Those include the successful effort to get Captain Charles Wilkes Elementary built and opened last year, and the start of new educational efforts such as the Spanish immersion, multi-age and STEM (science, technology, math) programs.

He has two children in island schools.

Voters also cast ballots in two other races for the five-member school board.

Incumbent Mev Hoberg, who was appointed to her position in April 2012, ran unopposed for the District 3 seat on the school board.

Sheila Jakubik was unopposed for the District 5 seat on the board. Incumbent Mary Curtis decided against seeking a third term.