While school board races tend to draw interest from those who have children in public schools at the moment, they have far more reach than what happens in class. Why? Because the biggest chunk of the property tax goes to public schools.
This fall, there are two races for the Edmonds School District board that should interest all voters:
In Pos. 5, voters would be best served by retaining incumbent Pat Shields over the challenger, recently retired Edmonds-Woodway principal Alan Weiss.
Shields came to the board as appointee to fill the respected Larry Ehl’s spot and was then elected to a full term. Shields has served as board chair, vice chair and legislative liaison. Shields served during a successful hiring of superintendent Nick Brossoit and critical bond and levy approval that hinged on an innovative plan for school district properties.
Weiss is a forceful personality and has plenty of experience in public education, but his style may be more suited for a CEO-type role than the collaborative atmosphere of a board.
The Pos. 3 race is less clear and voters won’t go wrong with either incumbent Gary Noble or challenger Jon Howeiler.
Noble is the present board chair with decades of experience in a variety of school- and district-level volunteer positions. Noble well-understands the strengths and needs of the district as well as the challenges ahead.
Howeiler, too, has in-school volunteer experience and would bring valuable insights from academic and state policy perspectives through his job as an education program coordinator at University of Washington-Bothell.
The district, and the voters, are fortunate to have two such well-qualified candidates in the race.
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