Three of four board races will be contested in the special election in May

In a good sign for civic engagement and public service, the Newberg School District will see its busiest race for school board in years, as three of the four races in the May 19 special election will be contested.

Newberg, where the number of seats up for election alternates between three and four every two years, hasn’t had three contested spots in at least 20 years, officials said.

With seven candidates running for four spots, it’s also the most crowded election since 2007, when there were eight candidates running for four board positions, including four in the Zone 2 race alone.

2007 was also the first election for Zone 7 incumbent Debbie Hawblitzel, who was first appointed to the board in 2005 before defeating Michael Richter in 2007 and running unopposed in 2011.

Hawblitzel said it was a pretty easy decision to run again because she enjoys being involved in the local schools and due to the time constraints of her position as an administrative assistant at George Fox University, serving on the board is the best way she can do that outside of being a parent.

She added that she is proud of how the board has worked to address the graduation rate at Newberg High School in the last term.

“We’ve really stepped up the curriculum and experience of school for younger kids so that when they get up higher, we’re going to have a better graduation rate,” Hawblitzel said. “However, I am constantly pushing that we can’t let any of the kids fall through the cracks. We’ve got to make changes now so that every child is learning and every child will graduate.”

Hawblitzel will be opposed by Jason Yates, who challenged Suzanne Bonamici for her congressional seat in 2014.

Yates first considered running for school board last fall when his son entered kindergarten at Joan Austin Elementary.

“Now I’ll be more intrinsically involved and be able to really know what’s going on a local level instead of a broad spectrum,” Yates said. “I think this is going to be a better fit for me and the community.”

Yates said he had a good experience running for Congress and felt he did well considering the situation, but won’t miss that kind of campaign. Rather, he’s happy to just use the Facebook page he’s created and might post a yard sign or two.

“Mrs. Hawblitzel is definitely a worthy opponent,” Yates said. “She’s been on the board for a while, so I don’t expect (her) to go down easy, but it’s not going to be as bad as a congressional race.”

Zone 2 incumbent Polly Peterson, who serves as board vice president, will be opposed by Walter Woodland for the second consecutive time, although this time around Woodland says he is not actively seeking office and doesn’t expect to be elected, but is running purely on democratic principle.

“The electorate, in a healthy representative republic, should have an option other than the incumbent in an electoral contest,” Woodland wrote in an email. “I’d rather someone more electable would have filed for the position and I would have gladly stepped aside had someone I could support been willing to run. That being true, if elected I’ll serve honorably and with all possible competence and accountability.”

Woodland added that he would advocate for the board to be accommodating to the creation of a charter school and increased access to district programs on an a la carte basis for families that home school or attend private school.

Peterson said that serving on the board has been a privilege, but has also involved a steep learning curve at the beginning of her term, which included major changes, like the hiring of a new superintendent, adapting to new mandates from the state and national level, and making changes at the high school.

“I feel like we have just started that work and I think we are already seeing some of the benefits,” Peterson said. “So I want to be a part of the next round of decision-making, which means four more years of getting to follow through on that.”

Melinda Van Bossuyt, the board’s longest serving member at 18 years, is running unopposed in Zone 3, while newcomers Mindy Allison and Jennifer Fisher will vie to replace Mitsi Vondrachek, who is stepping down after 16 years representing Zone 6.

Allison, an accounting and office manager who also volunteers in the district and at North Valley Friends Church, has three children in the district and chose to run mostly because it would be another way to serve the community.

In her time volunteering in the schools, she has been impressed with the caring and dedication of the teachers, but has also witnessed how regulations can make their jobs harder. She’s also interested in exploring whether the district is being creative and open-minded enough when it comes to spending time on assessments.

“I mostly want to support and improve our schools to the best that we can with the funds that we have available,” Allison said. “I have an accounting background and I think that can be very helpful. I care a lot about our community and our children. I think our community can be stronger. The stronger the schools we have and the more successful students we have, the stronger our community will be.”

Fisher, who is a part-time school nurse in Hillsboro, has been active in the community ever since her family moved to Newberg three years ago, serving at her church and in various functions in the school district.

In addition to volunteering at Chehalem Valley Middle School, she has served on the district budget committee since 2013 and been treasurer for the CVMS parent group since 2014.

All those roles have helped her get to know the community and know she feels ready to step up to a new level.

“They’ve done some really good things and I’d like to continue to be a part of the process and the progress,” Fisher said. “Even though there have been a lot of issues lately with funding of education and Common Core and just the ebb and flow of education in general, Newberg has done really well with some things and there is still some work that needs to be done to help our kids be ready for their futures. I want to be a part of it.”

Written by: Seth Gordon