As a Jackson High School Robotics Boosters board member from 2018–24 and team mentor since 2018, I want to set the record straight regarding the Lee family’s claims (“Mill Creek family throws $489K into Everett School Board races,” The Herald, Aug. 30).
One full district investigation has already concluded, finding no evidence of wrongdoing. A second, third-party investigation is underway, but once again the Lees have refused to participate, ensuring that no evidence from their side has ever been tested, and allowing them to keep repeating their allegations without risking a formal finding against them.
I can personally refute two of the most damaging claims. First, district funds were never used to purchase parts from a “mentor’s private company.” As a Booster board member, I can attest that the materials in question were purchased by the separate 501(c)(3) Booster organization, funded through corporate and individual donors, industry grants and family contributions, not taxpayer dollars.
Second, the claim that “mentors build the robots” is demonstrably false. In fact, the Lees themselves purchased $4,000 to $5,000 of materials in summer 2023 so that capable Jackson team students could build their child a practice robot. Some of those same students also competed for the driver position without their parents buying them a robot. To suggest that mentors silence team students while doing the work themselves erases the efforts of dozens of hardworking kids.
What began with disappointment over a single team role has now escalated into nearly a half-million dollars in political spending. Our community deserves to see these claims for what they are; and to celebrate the students who continue to thrive in spite of the noise.
Andrea Riseden-Perry
Mill Creek
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