Mid-Columbia school boards upended by election

It was a rough election season to be a Mid-Columbia school board incumbent.

Four school board presidents were ousted by challengers this week. A fifth incumbent was soundly defeated.

Most of those districts faced some turmoil in recent years, but local education officials and advocates said that doesn’t fully explain the electoral housecleaning.

Rather, voters may be hoping to affect state and national education issues, such as school funding, testing and Common Core, say some school observers.

“Look at the Republican (presidential candidates) right now,” said Superintendent Bruce Hawkins of Educational Service District 123, based in Pasco. “I think people are looking at different directions.”

The ESD supports districts in the region with resources and other services.

In Pasco, pediatrician Aaron Richardson’s victory over board President Ryan Brault appeared to have the most clear-cut reasoning.

Public discontent was clear over decisions such as the grade-level assignments for Barbara McClintock STEM Elementary, the controversial hiring of a replacement for Superintendent Saundra Hill and the bitter teachers strike that delayed the start of school by nine days.

However, the board upheaval in the Richland, Kiona-Benton City and Paterson school districts seemed less clear.

And incumbent candidates for the Kennewick, North Franklin and Prosser school districts had no challengers.

Richland

Richland board President Phyllis Strickler, a 20-year incumbent, is down by nearly 500 votes to Gordon Comfort, a former Richland High principal.

While Richland is still mired in court because of the removal of former Superintendent Jim Busey three years ago, and faced backlash from the removal of some concrete letters at Fran Rish Stadium two years ago, longtime school booster John Deichman said he didn’t see those issues leading to Strickler’s removal.

Rather, Strickler’s long tenure on the board may have worked against her as people wanted change, possibly with the goal of putting more pressure on state lawmakers to figure out ongoing school funding problems and testing issues.

“I think voters think the boards could have done more,” Deichman said.

The Richland board will have another new member because Mary Guay didn’t seek re-election. Only a handful of votes separate candidates Jill Oldson and Brett Amidan.

Deichman said Guay, a 16-year incumbent, might have been voted out anyway, if she had run again. Rick Donahoe, the lone Richland incumbent to win the re-election, has been on the board five years.

Kiona-Benton City

In the Ki-Be School Board race, board President Tim Cook received about half as many votes as challenger Julie Rheinschmidt, who teaches in Kennewick.

And challenger Dale Thornton earned just more than 60 percent of the votes, beating incumbent Wayne Elston.

Ki-Be has seen regular turnover during the past several years, partly as the result of two political factions in the district battling for board control.

But Hawkins said he was under the impression that the situation had calmed in the small district, and he was surprised that Cook and Elston were so handily defeated while Tawny Garrett, a board member they helped appoint to the board about a year ago, won re-election.

“Over the years, it seems you have a cycle like this,” Hawkins said. “I just think there’s a lot of interest in education right now.”

Similarly, in Paterson, board President Jody Maddox, a 13-year incumbent, was ousted by challenger Taryn Hartley in the district which oversees a K-8 school with fewer than 150 students.

The question becomes how each board changes as a result of the new faces.

Hawkins, the former superintendent of the Columbia (Burbank) School District, said a single new board member can easily change the dynamics of a board and a lot of work can go into getting new members up to speed on issues and policies.

And though the Pasco district saw a lot of controversy in recent years, Richardson will be its only new member. Pasco Vice President Scott Lehrman defeated write-in candidate Kathleen Barton, a retired teacher, who didn’t launch her campaign until September.

Mike Miller, a community leader who regularly leads Pasco’s school levy and bond campaigns, wouldn’t speculate on what led to Brault’s ouster, though he believes Brault still plans to participate in the levy election committee.

“Even though there’s been the angst, you still need to vote yes for the levies and schools,” Miller argued.

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 6:52 PM with the headline "Mid-Columbia school boards upended by election."