At least one new voice – possibly two – will join the five-member Tacoma School Board as a result of Tuesday’s primary election.
University of Puget Sound professor Dexter Gordon and Scott Heinze, a businessman active in the volunteer group Communities in Schools, will advance to the November general election, early returns indicate.
Both newcomers competed for the Position 3 seat to replace current board member Jim Dugan, who did not run.
In the contest for Position 5, incumbent Kim Golding, first elected to the board in 2005, and challenger Kim Washington, an administrator at Clover Park Technical College, were in a close race to see who would face Karen Vialle, a former Tacoma mayor and City Council member who works as a substitute teacher in Tacoma.
Vialle had a strong lead in early returns Tuesday, while Washington was running less than a percentage point ahead of Golding.
Golding must beat Washington in the primary to make it to the November ballot. If she doesn’t, Washington would face Vialle, guaranteeing the board will gain a second new member.
Tensions in the school district have been high over the past year as the board agreed to close two elementary schools to cope with state budget cuts.
Superintendent Art Jarvis, who faced public criticism during the school closure debate, announced that he will retire at the end of the upcoming school year. On Thursday, the board plans to evaluate in-house applicants for his job.
And the school district has called on a state mediator to intervene in contract talks with its teachers. The contract expires Aug. 31 – the day before the scheduled first day of the new school year. The teachers’ union has complained about the district’s use of an outside negotiator, and about the slow pace of negotiations.
Board candidates reached Tuesday night said they’re hoping for a quick resolution. Heinze said the clock is ticking and that there appear to be big issues still unresolved.
“My hope is that they would come together in the best interests of the students and the community and be able to start school Sept. 1,” he said.
Gordon said that, no matter how contract talks evolve, the next board must rebuild relationships between the district and its teachers.
“That, for me, will need to be a priority issue,” he said.
Vialle said she believes the outside negotiator “doesn’t have a stake in the process.” She said the board’s decision to hire that negotiator made her concerned that negotiations might hit an impasse.
“I am hoping beyond hope that we – the district and the teachers – are able to come up with a contract everybody can live with,” she said.
Washington and Golding did not return calls on deadline Tuesday.
SUBURBAN SCHOOLS
In perhaps the most confusing race on the primary ballot, voters in the Puyallup School District opted for a man who had earlier suspended his campaign, along with a woman who was a finalist for an appointment to the board in 2009.
Dane Looker, a former professional football player who volunteers as a high school sports coach, filed to run for the Position 2 seat in June. A month later he said he wanted to focus instead on a run for the state Legislature. Then last week, he said he would re-evaluate based on primary results.
Looker told The News Tribune he would serve on the School Board if he’s elected.
Therese Ngo Pasquier, development director for the Tacoma Philharmonic, has served on several community boards and on citizen committees for the school district, including a parent involvement task force.
She was slightly ahead of Looker on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, early returns showed voters in the Bethel School District favored longtime incumbent Joy Cook and her former challenger, David Hamwey, as their top choices to proceed to the November election.
Cook, a church office manager, said she wants to retain her seat on the board, even if she’s not sure how long she’ll hold it. Her husband has accepted a job out of state, and she has said she’ll stay in the school district for as long as it takes to sell her house and move.
Hamwey, a computer network manager, has run for school board before. He has cited his past career in teaching as one asset he would take to the board.
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