PORT ANGELES — Candidates for the Port Angeles School Board stated their positions one last time Monday at a last-minute voter forum.
Three of the six candidates could take leads in their races by 8 p.m. tonight when the polls close and Clallam County counts the bulk of the ballots submitted by voters.
About 25 people attended the forum at the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce meeting at the Red Lion Hotel.
In today’s general election, voters in the school district will decide between School Board candidates Dr. Joshua Jones and Gene Erickson for position 3, incumbent Lonnie Linn and challenger Rick Marti for position 4, and Jerusha Henson and Susan Shotthafer for position 5.
Current school board members Steve Baxter and Patti Happe declined to run for re-election, leaving two positions open to new board members.
The general election will be certified Nov. 25, and winners will take their positions Jan. 1.
Each of the board candidates was given three minutes to make a final pitch for votes.
Position 3
The position should not go to the person with the highest education degree, but to the candidate who is the educator in the race, said Erickson, 66, a 13-year substitute teacher in the Port Angeles School District.
Jones, 40, medical director of Peninsula Behavioral Health, responded that he has two children in the school district and has “skin in the game,” and plans to remain in Port Angeles to raise his children.
“Schools are the way to build our community,” he said.
Position 4
“I believe I am the better candidate. The board needs a fresh perspective from those of us who have been actually working in the trenches,” said Marti, 70, a building supply trade retiree who has worked as a substitute teacher.
Linn, 60, a construction estimator and sales person who has served on the School Board since 2008, said the district and its students are facing “bombshells” from state and federal mandates and laws, and the board needs experienced members who already know the system.
“This is going to take tough people who know who to call,” he said.
Position 5
Shotthafer, 68, a substitute teacher in the district for 11 years, said that her experience in the schools is key, and that she believes the schools are not suffering from funding deficits, but from cultural deficits, and wants to use her experience in the classroom to help shape the district’s way of addressing them.
Henson, 35, a former national park ranger and parent of young children, said she wants to work to improve the schools and to keep students safe.
“These kids are our future, we should be putting everything we have into them,” she said.
Construction bonds
The candidates were asked if they believe the school district needs to replace Port Angeles High School.
Port Angeles School District officials have said they need to replace the 62-year old high school, 61-year-old Franklin Elementary School and 59-year-old Hamilton Elementary School, as well as make improvements to other district schools.
Voters defeated a $98 million bond to replace the high school in February.
In May the School Board approved $6 million in urgent repairs and upgrades at districts schools over the next few years, including roofs, flooring and security systems, which are expected to add five to 10 years of additional use at the aging buildings.
“In all likelihood, we will not see a new high school,” Linn said.
The district’s priorities are changing because of a new state law passed by voters in 2013, which requires elementary school class sizes to be reduced within a few years, he said.
The district needs 16 new classrooms almost immediately — the equivalent of an entire elementary school, Linn said.
‘Build something right’
Marti said the school does need to be replaced, but the district needs a compromise approach.
“Build something right in the first place,” so it doesn’t fall apart in 60 years, he said.
Henson also said the high school buildings clearly need to be replaced, eventually, and that the school buildings are well on their way to being unusable, with heating systems that don’t work and can’t be repaired, and buildings where students can’t drink the water.
Shotthafer said she believes education is heading more toward individual instruction online and that schools may need to be smaller in the future.
She also said she supports refurbishing and reopening Fairview Elementary School to address the classroom issue at the elementary level.
Jones said the district needs to address the conditions in the high school soon, “not just because they’re not pretty too look at, but because the
buildings are getting dangerous.”
“If we don’t pay for it now, we will pay a lot more for it later,” he said.
Erickson noted that the $98 million bond offered to voters in February was defeated 62 percent to 48 percent, due to the size of the bond.
“We need to look at something [voters] could afford,” he said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
