Race for Edmonds School Board seats

  • Jennifer Aaby<br>Enterprise writer
  • Monday, March 3, 2008 6:54am

The race for seats on the Edmonds School Board should be tame, as both candidates are running unopposed.

Incumbent Bruce Williams, the current president of the board, filed with the Snohomish County Auditor’s Office to represent District 4, the southwestern-most corner of the district comprising parts of Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace and Woodway.

Ann McMurray, who was appointed to the board for District 2 to fulfill Mimi Terwilliger’s term after she resigned in December 2004, filed with the county as well. District 2 represents parts of Lynnwood, Brier and Mountlake Terrace. Edmonds School Board members are elected to four-year terms.

Williams was first elected to the board in 1997, and he decided to seek re-election because he’d like to continue working with the district to see a number of building projects fulfilled.

“I would like to see the capital projects plan that we’ve been working on for a decade completed,” Williams said. “The biggest part of that is the new Lynnwood High School.”

He said he’d like to continue working with the district and the communities to best use the district’s surplus land.

“During this next important phase of our stewardship efforts, we have a unique chance to offset much of our building costs for the future with revenue from properties no longer needed for educational purposes,” Williams said.

He said the biggest challenge that the district will face in the coming years is improving student achievement and reaching the goals set for the class of 2008. That will be the first year high school students must pass the reading, writing and math portions of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning to graduate.

Williams owns Edmonds Internal Medicine and has three children, two of whom have graduated and one who attends Edmonds-Woodway High School. He and his wife, Nancy, live in Edmonds.

McMurray has spent a little more than five months serving on the school board, and she’s realized she has something to bring to the table.

“It’s a good fit for me and I really appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the district and also to interface with so many groups in the district,” McMurray said.

She hopes to expand on her experiences, and she looks forward to what the future holds for the district.

She hopes the district is able to increase volunteerism at schools.

“With limited resources coming in, it makes the volunteers so valuable,” she said.

McMurray also said she hopes to continue working to support student achievement on the WASL and being fiscally responsible with the district’s surplus land.

She sees enrollment as an issue that will be continually addressed by the district as the number of students declines, as it has previously, and the population shifts within the district.

McMurray lives in Brier with her husband, Tad. They have two children, both of whom have graduated from Mountlake Terrace High School.

Jennifer Aaby is an Education writer for Enterprise newsppapers.

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