Here’s why 12 Tri-Cities school board candidates weren’t invited to a Monday voter event

A Tri-Cities school board candidate meet-and-greet for voters planned Monday is being criticized for intentionally excluding more than half of the candidates.

The School Board Candidates Meet-Up is set for John Dam Plaza in Richland on Monday, starting at 6 p.m.

Eight of the 20 people who have filed for school board positions in Richland, Pasco and Kennewick were invited to attend. Most of them are newcomers, but the list also includes two Pasco incumbents, Amy Phillips and Steve Christensen.

One organizer Shelly Burt said the election event was intended as a way for a group of parents to meet school candidates, most of whom had been working to reopen schools in the months they were shutdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I would say there’s about five that have been really, really active in helping kids get back into the classroom,” said Burt. “These new (candidates) have decided to run that have been battling with us all year. And we have a lot of parents in our group that wanted to ask them questions.”

Burt makes regular appearances at the Richland School Board to advocate for changes to the special education rooms and to ease COVID restrictions. She most recently led a protest aimed at showing how hot it is for children riding on buses with masks on.

She said they initially planned to have the meet-up in a home, but it grew too large.

While Burt says any candidate can come to the event, some of those left out say the meet-and-greet has generated suspicions of partisan politics creeping into races for positions that don’t have a party affiliation.

Two of the Richland School Board candidates invited — Audra Byrd and M. Semi Bird — said they received invitations and were happy to come to the event.

“I see this as an opportunity to engage with our voters and to share our positions; so of course, I accepted,” Bird said.

Richland School Board candidates Heather Cleary, Danica Garcia and Elizabeth Vann-Clark were left off the invitation list, and wanted to know who organized it.

“I feel like all of the candidates who were invited represent a particular slate of viewpoints,” Garcia said. “I think our public needs to be able to hear both sides.”

Tri-City Republicans

The 2021 primary and general elections feature a host of nonpartisan races for school boards, city councils, port commissions and others. Washington’s tradition of keeping these positions away from party affiliation dates back to 1949.

Party politics has crept back into these races in recent years, a trend that Garcia says she doesn’t support.

“Things like the school board and city council need to maintain a center position in order to represent all of the community,” Garcia said. “I think that it’s important that the folks who are elected to those positions maintain a position that is as unbiased as possible.”

Bird said he also hopes to have the support from all political and ideological groups.

“We should be inclusive of all ideologies as long as they support unity, collaboration and inclusion, regardless of race, creed, color or preference,” he said.

The confusion about Monday’s event was not helped by a post on the Benton County Republicans’ Facebook page that the event is sponsored by the coalition along with Tri-City Republicans Facebook group.

The Benton County Republican Party leaders did not respond to questions about whether the party would get involved in local races.

Burt said the group and the party were not involved in organizing the event.

“This is me and another parent/teacher that are planning this event,” Burt told the Herald. “She might even be a registered Democrat. We have asked other Facebook groups to please share this event.”

While the eight candidates who were invited all share similar views, the 12 left out vary in their political positions. Some, like Gary Bullert, hold similar views to the candidates picked for the event. The Kennewick candidate is also looking to prioritize in-person teaching.

Others, like Garcia, point out that children have returned to classrooms, and now the district should be looking at making sure they are receiving an equitable education.

Still welcome

“These are just candidates that are my friends and friends of the other teacher,” Burt said. “I don’t know any of the other candidates, but they’re more than welcome to come.”

Bullert said he wanted to attend because it’s important for him to meet people.

But Vann-Clark wants an invitation before going, and to know that her opponent had an equal chance to show up. She encourages others to contact all of the school board candidates before forming an opinion.

“If I were included in the forum, I would want to know the format and who was sponsoring it before I would commit to participating,” Cleary said.

Burt said details on the format for the evening and who might speak weren’t finalized by Thursday, adding it would depend on how many people showed up.

This story was originally published June 5, 2021 at 8:27 AM.