Portland School Board candidates

I attended the forum at Portland Public Schools’ headquarters last night, along with more than 50 other citizens. Taped coverage will be shown on Channel 28 every Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30 p.m., throughout the voting period ending on May 15. Try to catch even a little of it if you can, and/or attend the last forum at the Multnomah Center on Monday, April 30 at 7 p.m.

We are truly blessed to have excellent people willing to serve on our School Board for no pay. All the candidates spoke well, earnestly, and with good knowledge and ideas. I especially appreciated the positive, constructive tone and content, even while the underlying message is a more heartfelt “Pick me! Pick me! Oh please, pick me!”

I noted at least one comment by each candidate, presented here to give you a flavor of their remarks. They are not intended to convey the candidates’ core message, rather the part I found most interesting. My endorsements for School Board are:

Zone 1 – Ruth Adkins over incumbent Doug Morgan.

Zone 2 – David Wynde over challenger Michelle Schultz.

Zone 3 – Bobbie Regan (unopposed)

Zone 7 – Dilafruz Williams (unopposed)

I’m also endorsing Melissa Whitcomb for Parkrose School Board. I apologize to readers in the David Douglas, Centennial, and Reynolds school districts in Portland – with so much time spent on the Charter ballot measures, I haven’t been able to research candidates there. Likewise Multnomah Education Service District candidates. Anyone is welcome to post endorsements for these races in the comments, or contact me to publish a Guest Post.

Some highlights from yesterday’s forum:

Ruth Adkins: “Accountability means making sure we get it right before spending taxpayers money. The Board should be accountable to taxpayers and spend their money wisely. We’re about to spend $4 million on new textbooks, and we need to be sure they’re the right ones before moving forward.”

Doug Morgan: “We need to manage our business in a way that is above reproach, and we haven’t been doing that.” Went on to outline significant progress towards that goal over the four years he has been on the Board.

David Wynde: (in answer to the question, “What would you do about Lincoln High School [overcrowding]?”) “This is a school district, not a federation of high school clusters.” (He sealed my vote right there)

Michelle Schultz: “A 4-3 vote by the Board is not enough consensus to move forward with a major reorganization to reconfigure schools to K-8”.
Michelle did very well in this forum. She will be a helpful participant in the school district for many years in the future. I think she needs more citywide experience before being ready to serve on the Board.

Bobbie Regan: “After Measure 5, we eliminated the Curriculum department to keep more teachers in the classroom. This has left new teachers with no curriculum support or guidance on what to teach in their classrooms. We need to provide a strong teacher mentor program within a district-wide curriculum framework.”
Bobbie also talked about being thrilled to have hired an auditor to provide objective assessments of progress, and about being elected to the statewide Oregon School Board. She has an impressive record of volunteering in schools as well as an elected official.

Dilafruz Williams: “We need to pause and see whether reconfiguration we did last year has worked, especially for K-8, before moving forward with more.” “I’m concerned when planning does not take into account the entire district, especially when inequities are created in closures/reconfigurations in the east side compared with the west side.” Huge round of applause for that one, with westside parents I know clapping as enthusiastically as eastsiders.
Dilafruz said so many insightful things, I couldn’t write them all down. Perhaps the most important: