Mann, Swenson vie for schools seat

Shoreline School Board candidates Dan Mann and Kellie Swenson will go head to head in the Nov. 4 election.

Dan Mann, 56, has lived in Shoreline for 30 years and owns several tanning salons in the greater Seattle area. He was uncontested as of the final filing date, Aug. 1. Swenson announced she would be running against Mann Aug. 5 after the filing deadline had passed. She is running as a write-in candidate for the position.

Mann said that he wants to be a part of the school board because he’d like to serve both his city and his community, and he feels he has the necessary skills to do it, including business and communication skills. Mann has been involved with the Shoreline Merchants Association, Chamber of Commerce and has worked with the district’s DECA program.

Swenson, 36, has lived in the area for eight years and is currently pursuing a marketing degree at Shoreline Community College. She has served as an active member of the Parkwood PTA.

She said she feels she could offer a unique perspective if elected to join the school board because she is a parent in the district, who has seen first hand how the teachers have had to deal with budget cutbacks.

“I have what it takes … I feel I can fix the issues they have,” Swenson said.

Mann and Swenson have similar views on the recently implemented No Child Left Behind Act. The new program requires all students, including special education and English language learners, to reach high state-mandated standards. If students do not meet Adequate Yearly Progress goals in each category of the Washington Assessment of Learning test, the district is labeled as failing.

“I’m not happy with it, and I think it puts a lot of pressure on the teachers,” Swenson said, “But were stuck with it.”

She added that securing funding for teachers could help them try to reach the goals set for student success on the WASL .

Mann agrees that the standards set are “virtually unattainable” for some student populations. He recommends advocating within the district to communicate with parents what the “failing” label means and securing more support for teachers.

Swenson and Mann said they would take different approaches to the district budget under tight state funding and the upcoming teacher contract negotiations. Both Mann and Swenson agreed that the degree to which the board communicates within the district and with the community needs to be heightened.

Mann also suggested “aggressive polling” to find out why some students do not attend public school in the district. The answers, Mann said, could help stabilize enrollment numbers and bring in state funding.

The state gives the school district a little over $4,000 for every full-time equivalent student.

“It’s the state’s responsibility to provide adequate funding,” Mann said, “And it’s going to be very difficult to make teachers happy.”

Swenson said her priority is to support teachers, and that she will “closely watch” the issue of state funding. She suggested the district hire a grant coordinator to help find funding for schools and relieve some of the pressure to do so on teachers. But, she said, she “will reserve comments until I see where it goes.”