All eyes on Everett School Board election
Published 12:01 am Friday, October 21, 2011
The Everett School Board has been in the public spotlight nearly nonstop all year.
There was a scuffle among three of its members in August that ended in calls to police.
It censured one of its board members, Jessica Olson, twice.
And there have been heated debates over everythi
ng from parliamentary procedure to Olson’s right to personally videotape meetings.
Despite the controversy — or perhaps because of it — there’s been unusual public attention on the race to fill one school board seat.
Both Mary Ann Elbert and Pam LeSesne say they’ve often been peppere
d with the same question from the public: “Are you sure you want to join the school board?”
The controversy has had one unexpected effect, Elbert said. “I do think there are a lot of people paying more attention (to the race) than would typically pay attention to a school board election.”
The two candidates are vying for a seat on the five-member board being vacated by Kristie Dutton, who decided not to seek re-election after 12 years on the board.
The candidate voters select in the November general election will help oversee an 18,000-student district that includes the cities of Everett and Mill Creek and parts of unincorporated Snohomish County. School Board members are paid $50 a day for School Board work, or a maximum of $4,800 a year.
The race between Elbert and LeSesne is a contrast in campaign styles.
LeSesne has a basketful of endorsements and contributions from people representing unions, education, business leaders and some public officials. Her yard signs have been popping up in neighborhoods throughout the school district.
Elbert is running a low-key campaign in her first run for public office. Her campaign budget is about one-tenth the size of LeSesne’s, relying largely on word-of-mouth recommendations and public forums to spread her message.
Elbert has one announced endorsement, from the Everett School Board Project. The grass-roots community group sprang up following the scuffle among school board members in August.
LeSesne lost her first school board race in 2009 by about 3 percentage points to Jeff Russell. In that first race, she said, she had a relatively small campaign, raising about $3,000.
This time, she set a goal of raising $10,000 to help pay for printing and other campaign costs as one part of her effort to get her message out to voters. She’s just under that goal.
LeSesne’s contributors include the Everett Education Association, real estate agent Barbara Lamoureux, Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick, Snohomish County Council member Dave Gossett and former Everett Schools Superintendent Carol Whitehead.
LeSesne acknowledges that if she is elected, these and other backers could potentially have conflicting agendas.
“They donate with no strings attached other than they believe in my message — excellence in education and … strong partnerships between businesses, union, tradespeople and colleges,” she said.
Elbert’s campaign has raised $910. Her single biggest contributor is the $600 loan she made to her own campaign fund.
“I don’t intend to spend a whole lot of money,” she said. “I don’t think that thousands of dollars should be spent” on school board elections.
On several school district issues in the news, the two candidates have similar views.
Neither, for example, would have voted to censure Olson a second time this year.
Olson has been at odds with the other board members, and some district administrators, in large part over issues of transparency and government openness. Her insistence on videotaping meetings, and her use of social media and Web resources to post comments and district documents, has angered her colleagues. Olson has explained the taping as necessary to document interactions with others at the district. Her camera was rolling when the Aug. 23 scuffle began.
The board voted to censure Olson at the first regular school board meeting following the Aug. 23 fracas.
The censure accused Olson of intimidation and harassment of staff, undermining public trust with false accusations, wasting the superintendent’s time, ignoring the board’s email policy and violating the school district’s records rules. Olson has denied wrongdoing.
Both Elbert and LeSesne said they would consider changing the length of terms school board members serve.
Everett is one of four public school districts, of the 295 in the state, to have six-year terms for school board members. Most school board members serve for four-year terms.
One of the latest school board debates is over Olson’s request to have her minority opinion included in the performance review of Superintendent Gary Cohn.
Questions over how Cohn’s review should take place were one of the issues that triggered the August scuffle among three board members during what was planned to be an executive session. Olson believed the conversation about how to review Cohn belonged in public, and she turned on the camera to make a record of what happened.
Part of the problem in discussing Olson’s request is that personnel matters are one of the exemptions to the state’s Open Public Meetings law. No one other than board members has been invited to inspect the draft performance review written by Ed Petersen, school board president.
“If the board were working the way it should, you wouldn’t have a need for a minority opinion,” Elbert said.
Cohn’s review, to some extent, should include all the opinions of the board, she said.
“I’m having a hard time understanding why it’s so difficult to include all the opinions in the first place,” Elbert said. By the time questions are raised over whether minority opinions should be included, “you’ve already had a breakdown either in communication or listening to other’s views.”
LeSesne said minority viewpoints should always be evaluated as part of all the information that’s presented. “I do believe the truth lies somewhere in the middle,” she said.
“Once they’re evaluated that, it will help them determine the majority opinion.”
Elbert said if she could make one change in how the school board operates, she would like to see more attention given to public input.
The public is limited to three-minute statements during board meetings, she noted. “Interaction with the public is minimal,” she said.
Whether it’s the use of Facebook, having small group meetings or attending PTA meetings, board members need to increase their contact with the public, she said.
Elbert said she would also like to see more questioning by board members of some of the material presented by the superintendent.
“A lot of times there are details missing and that should be questioned,” she said. “There has to be accountability in terms of knowing what’s going on.”
LeSesne said she would like to see more community groups work with the school district. As one example, she was told that students vying to enter a carpenter’s apprenticeship program were lacking basic math skills, such as geometry.
LeSesne invited the labor groups to provide volunteers to help tutor students and show them the real-world applications of the math skills they’re taught in the classroom.
LeSesne said she would like to have school board meetings videotaped or broadcast on local public access channels.
She said she would also like for school board members to schedule coffee meetings with the public. It would provide a way for school board members to hear suggestions and concerns in a more informal way.
Sharon Salyer: 425-39-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
Everett School Board, Position 5
Mary Ann Elbert
Age: 44
Residence : Unincorporated Snohomish County north of Mill Creek
Occupation: Stay-at-home mom, former Boeing engineer
Website: www.facebook.com/maryann.everettschools
Priorities: Allow all children to perform to their full potential; make decisions based upon facts and data in an open manner with the public; seek more public input to the board that is not limited to hand-picked individuals or surveys written.
Pam LeSesne
Age: 55
Residence: South Everett, Cascade Highlands
Occupation: Retired Navy captain
Website: www.pamforschools.com
Priorities: Ensure all students are supported and challenged to meet their highest potential; listen and respect the views of parents, teachers, staff and board members; strengthening the core education of reading, writing, math and sciences without neglecting arts, music and athletics.
