MARYSVILLE — Ron Young, a Marysville School Board member, is leaving town in the middle of the longest teachers strike in state history.
He wants the community to know why.
Young, an advanced registered family nurse practitioner, will be part of a two-week medical mission to Haiti — the third time in three years he has made the trip.
He said he made the commitment more than six months ago, long before he knew there would be a strike.
"I would love to come back to find out the kids are back in class," Young said.
"They don’t have to wait to come to an agreement for me," he quipped.
The school board has not held any public meetings since the strike began Sept. 2, turning over much of its decision-making authority to superintendent Linda Whitehead.
Young said the trip to a small town in Haiti provides a different life perspective. His volunteer group serves 150 to 200 patients a day. He has seen a 6-year-old girl who weighed less than 22 pounds and met a family that walked 11 hours to get to the clinic for Tylenol and aspirin.
Haiti, which shares an island in the Caribbean Sea with the Dominican Republic, has the highest poverty level in the Western Hemisphere.
Young is bringing 300 pairs of glasses for people with failing vision and a grinding stone donated by Pacific Grinding Wheel Co. of Marysville to help people living near the community of Leon to sharpen their machetes.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
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