EVERETT — A candidate who counted youth homelessness, mental health and overcrowding among his top priorities was narrowly leading for a spot on the Everett school board Tuesday night.
Charles Adkins, a policy analyst for the Tulalip Tribes, was winning with 51.3% of the vote. Ryne Rohla, an economist for the state Department of Social and Health Services and for the state Attorney General’s Office, trailed with 48.4%.
Reached by phone Wednesday, Adkins said he was excited about the results and feeling fairly confident his lead would hold.
Rohla, on the other hand, noted the race was close but said he was realistic about possible outcomes.
The two candidates were campaigning for Position 5, which comes with a six-year term.
In the other Everett school board race, incumbent Jen Hirman decisively secured Position 2 for another two years with 87.9% of the vote. Her opponent, Charles Mister, was trailing with 11.6%.
Both positions are at-large.
Meanwhile, winners were apparent in school board races around the county.
Everett
Adkins, who is particularly concerned with youth homelessness, suggested the district partner with nonprofits to build supportive housing for students on its surplus property.
“We can’t just fix this inside our classrooms,” he said.
He also wants the district to consider opening a school-based health center, like in the Edmonds School District.
“School may be the only place where a kid can get access to that mental health care and physical health care that in many cases they really, really need,” he said.
Academic achievement was a major issue for Rohla. He wanted the district to look to teaching methods with scientific backing. Grade inflation, for example, disincentivizes students, he said. The district’s reading curriculum also leaves something to be desired, in his view.
“When I’m looking through the curriculum that my daughter gets, it’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that and I don’t know that it’s very intentional,” said Rohla, whose oldest daughter is a kindergartner in the district.
Meanwhile, Hirman prioritized academic achievement, school safety, financial stability and “strong partnerships between schools, parents and the community” during her campaign.
Mister, her opponent, submitted a candidate statement to the voters’ pamphlet full of typos and some unverifiable claims. In an earlier interview, he mentioned dealing with fighting in schools and advocacy for students of color as among his goals if elected.
Edmonds
Carin Chase, left, Nicholas Logan, Nancy Katims and Nicholas Jenkins.
Incumbent Carin Chase defended her position on the Edmonds school board with 70.4% of the vote. Her opponent, Nicholas Logan, garnered 29.4%.
They are competing to represent District 1, which covers much of Edmonds and part of Mountlake Terrace.
Chase, a legislative representative for the state School Directors’ Association, took issue with how the state calculates school funds. In particular, staff allocations per school are out of step with what schools actually need, in her view. She wants to lobby state lawmakers to change this.
In Logan’s candidate statement, he named school safety, “a lowering of general educational standards and teaching for a test and not for life skills” as big issues.
He wrote he was an IT consultant, small business owner and U.S. Army veteran.
Nancy Katims, the board’s other incumbent on the ballot Tuesday, also appeared set to keep her position representing District 5, an area mostly west of Highway 99 and north of 196th Street SW.
She had 69.2% of the vote to Nicholas Jenkins’ 30.6%.
Like Chase, Katims said she intended to use her position on the school board to advocate for a different school funding model. She is the current board president and has decades of experience in education.
Jenkins wanted schools to focus on English, math and science. He sees schools as “bogged down” with discussion of social problems.
Each position has a four-year term.
Snohomish
Tabitha Baty, left, Rob Serviss, Sarah Adams and Sherri Larkin.
Rob Serviss led the race against Tabitha Baty to represent District 2 on the Snohomish school board.
He had 54.6% of the vote. Baty garnered 45.1%.
The district encompasses Snohomish High School and the northern part of the school district.
Serviss, a real estate agent with years of experience coaching swimming in Snohomish, believed the district should communicate better with parents.
Baty, a customer service manager in the aerospace industry, wanted the district to collect more data to see why students may be struggling in school. She is also president of the anti-racism advocacy group Snohomish for Equity.
In District 4, incumbent Sarah Adams may have successfully defended her seat against challenger Sherri Larkin. Adams had 51.5% of the vote, while Larkin received 48.2%.
Adams, who manages a team of trauma therapists, wanted to help students recover from the impact of the pandemic. Larkin, who used to teach at a private elementary school and now serves as a substitute teacher, prioritized academic achievement.
In the primary, Adams and another candidate, Monica Weber, were only 20 votes apart. After a recount, Adams advanced to the general election to face Larkin.
Marysville
Tiffani Mondares-Riggs, left, Eliza Davis, Beth Hoiby and Sherryl Kenney.
Eliza Davis seemed to have beaten Tiffani Mondares-Riggs in the race for Position 2 on the Marysville school board.
On Tuesday night, Davis had 52.1% of the vote and Mondares-Riggs had 47.3%.
Mondares-Riggs, who has six kids in the district, wanted board members to be more informed about the district’s finances. Her background includes bookkeeping for her event planning business and tax preparation for Jackson Hewitt.
Davis, a former Lushootseed language teacher, wanted the district to be thoughtful about where money is needed when allocating funds. She spent eight years as a Native American liason for Marysville schools.
Meanwhile, Beth Hoiby was well ahead with 58.2% of the vote against Sherryl Kenney’s 41.1% in the race for Position 3.
Hoiby, a property appraiser, wanted the district to further support and teach the history of the Tulalip Tribes. Kenney, a senior business analyst at Elevance Health, opposed diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in schools.
Monroe
Top row: Tiana Armstrong, left, Jeremiah Campbell and Melanie Ryan. Bottom row: Chuck Whitfield, left, Jennifer Bumpus and Andrew Fegler.
After years of tumult in the district, it’s not yet clear whether the board will see a change.
Incumbent Chuck Whitfield and challenger Melanie Ryan were only 9 votes apart in the race to represent the Monroe school board’s District 2.
On Tuesday night, Ryan had 2,742 votes. Whitfield had 2,751.
Ryan, the CEO of a consulting firm, advocated for inclusion efforts in Monroe schools and raised concerns about student achievement.
For Whitfield, academic achievement, school safety and mental health were the district’s main issues.
The other three Monroe school board races were uncontested after two candidates dropped out. One race was already unopposed.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated Beth Hoiby’s occupation. She is currently a property appraiser.
Sophia Gates: 425-339-3035; sophia.gates@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @SophiaSGates.
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