Three seats on the Centinela Valley Union High School District board will be filled by appointment after only one candidate filed for each position, canceling what would have been a Nov. 3, 2026, election for families in Hawthorne, Lawndale and Lennox.

The district posted a notice of appointment on Tuesday, Aug. 25, naming Marisela Ruiz (Trustee Area 1), Hugo M. Rojas (Trustee Area 2) and Estefany Alejandra Castaneda (Trustee Area 5) as the sole nominees. Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean C. Logan signed the official notice, which was published in the Daily Breeze on Wednesday, Aug. 26.

No one else filed.

Under California Education Code Sections 5326, 5328 and 5328.5, when only one candidate is nominated for a school board seat, no election is held. The governing board instead appoints the qualified person at its organizational meeting, and the appointee serves a full four-year term as if elected by voters.

All three are current board members whose terms expire this year, according to district and Ballotpedia records. Ruiz, a lifelong Lawndale resident and realtor at Casa Bella Properties, is a CVUHSD high school alumna, according to her district biography. Castaneda was first elected to the board in November 2018. Rojas has served as the Area 2 representative.

The outcome means three of the five-member board's seats will turn over without a contested vote. The remaining two trustees, Nohemi Ramirez (Area 3) and Gloria Ramos (Area 4), hold terms through 2028.

CVUHSD serves roughly 5,600 students in grades 9-12 at Hawthorne High, Lawndale High, Leuzinger High and Lloyde Continuation High School. Enrollment dropped about 5% between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years, falling from 5,898 to 5,600, according to the most recent available data.

The exact date of the organizational meeting where the appointments will be formalized has not been announced. The next scheduled regular board meeting is Sept. 8 at 5 p.m. at the district board room, 14901 S. Inglewood Ave., Lawndale.