Two Medina Valley ISD school board members will keep their seats after Saturday’s election that drew two challengers with backgrounds in the classroom.
In an at-large election where the top two vote-takers win, incumbent Nathan Filinger, an IT architect at USAA took 33.52% of the vote, and incumbent Blane Nash, a former firefighter and paramedic, took 30.82%.
The two challengers, social studies teacher Andrew Carawan and Northside ISD academic dean Toby Castillo Walters, took 15.75% and 19.91%, respectively.
Castillo Walters ran unsuccessfully for a position on the board in 2025.
Voter turnout increased this year compared to last year, attracting 694 votes in Medina County and 195 in Bexar County, most likely because the positions were at large vs. single-member districts, meaning any voter in the district could cast their ballot this year.
Unlike most school districts in the Bexar County region, Medina Valley ISD has been quickly growing in enrollment as development booms on the far West Side of San Antonio and Castroville.
The school district is also about to get a new superintendent after Scott Caloss announced his retirement in February. In April, the board approved the hiring of Emily Lorenz, the superintendent of a school district near Corpus Christi, set to start this June.
The MVISD board consists of seven members, two elected at-large and five from single-member districts. This year, the two at-large positions and the District 5 seat were up for grabs, but all four candidates signed up for the at-large seats
Fillinger works at USAA and is the current board president. Nash was first elected to the board in 2023.
