Pasco school candidates look to ease crowding, help at-risk kids

Voters will decide the future of two spots on the Pasco school board which will be focused in the coming years on finding more space for its 18,600 students.

In one race, Jesse Campos, a community service organization veteran, is facing off with relative newcomer Steven Castellano. They seek to replace Aaron Richardson, who is leaving the five-member board after a single four-year term.

The other contest is between Scott Lehrman, who is wrapping up his first full term in office, and Donna Watts, the Port of Pasco’s finance director.

The newly elected school board members will see the opening of the district’s fourth middle school and a new elementary school.

The addition of the new buildings will allow sixth-graders to move from elementary schools back into the middle schools, which had grown too crowded to hold them in recent years.

But the crammed high schools will be the next big challenge.

Pasco is already home to the state’s largest high school — Chiawana High with nearly 2,900. And Pasco High isn’t far behind with about 2,300.

District officials are already considering putting a bond in front of voters within the next year.

All positions on the board are at-large, meaning all voters vote in each race.

Board members are not paid, and this year none of the candidates said they raised more than $5,000 for their campaigns.

Campos vs. Castellano

Jesse Campos’ career of working with community groups spans the gamut of services in Pasco from the Tri-Cities Dream Center, the Community Prevention Wellness Initiative and the city of Pasco’s inclusivity commission.

He uses his experience as a troubled youth and growing up in Pasco to mentor inmates at the Juvenile Justice Center, other at-risk youth and the homeless. He works as a coordinator for state’s Community Prevention Wellness Initiative.

On the school board, he wants to work with administrators and teachers to bring more excellent programming to the schools. He believes in partnering with Educational Service District, the 21st Century program, YMCA and other agencies already in the district to find ways to help more students.

After-school programs are important to preventing kids from getting into trouble, he says.

“My heart is for those that are on the margins and those that fall through the cracks of the school district,” he said. “My heart is focused on trying to find them and hopefully teach them.”

Steven Castellano is a recent transplant to Pasco after living in Oregon and California. He is a self-published author and volunteer at the Union Gospel Mission, Daysprings Ministry and Adopt Shelter Animal Pets.

He favors an eight-hour school day and finding a way to increase the number of subject-specific tutors available to students.

“I believe in the public and private sector working together and having as many options as possible,” he said.

Lehrman vs. Watts

Lehrman, a chemical engineer and nuclear safety manager, started on the board in 2013 after he replaced retired Pasco educator Jeffrey Dong, and won a 2015 election to keep his position.

Since joining the board, he has been part of efforts to make it easier for the public to learn what the board is doing, including the taping and online posting of the board’s meetings. The district is the only one in the Tri-Cities to do that.

He also was on the board during the 2015 teacher’s strike, and he helped pick current Superintendent Michelle Whitney.

“I believe that my leadership has been an integral driver for the improvement and positive culture shift that we’ve seen on the board and in the district for the past six years,” said Lehrman, who still have three of his four children attending Pasco schools.

His challenger, Donna Watts, comes with her own pedigree of public service and is in her second year as the director of finance at the port.

The Pasco High graduate has a master’s in finance and accounting from the Keller Graduate School of Management. Her experience with public finances gives her additional insight on budgeting, she said.

She is part of the district’s committee studying adding a new third high school.

“I’m running for school board to be someone that parents can come to and share their voice with me and their concerns, so I can help everybody’s education process be the best it can be,” she said.

Ballots for the Nov. 5 election should already have arrived in the mail, and can be returned by mail or put in one of six drop boxes around the county.