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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Parents Challenge School Board Incumbents But Medical Lake City Council Members Unopposed For Re-Election

Two Medical Lake School Board incumbents are facing challenges for their jobs, while City Council positions in Medical Lake are uncontested.

In District 2, incumbent school board member Gene Robinette, a retiree, faces off against housewife and parent Deanne E. Stevenson.

Robinette, whose wife, Lorene, retired as a teacher from Medical Lake, is known for supporting the technical training programs in the high school.

He also supports construction projects like the new grade school, the expansion of playfields and a new greenhouse for the horticulture program. Robinette was appointed to the board in 1991, and elected to the seat that fall.

Robinette could not be reached for comment last week.

Stevenson, 37, has been a classroom volunteer for years, helping teachers with her three children. She’s lived in Medical Lake for more than six years, and wants to make a contribution to the community, she said. Her husband is in the Air National Guard.

“A teacher should be able to feel they can influence a child for the good,” she said.

“I know the struggles they have in meeting their commitment to the students.”

In school board District 3, longtime resident Judy Abbott is running unopposed for the position being vacated by her son-in-law and neighbor, Gene Lewan.

She’s a retired Air Force employee, a community volunteer and she writes a column for the Medical Lake Register newspaper.

Abbott wants to maintain the quality of the schools in Medical Lake. “We’ve got some good outstanding students,” she said.

In school board District 4, incumbent Sharon K. Morasch is being challenged by another parent, Terry A. Nabakowski.

Morasch, 51, is finishing her third four-year term on the board and said there is more to be done to strengthen the current quality of education.

She wants parents to get more involved in the schools, and she wants everyone in the community to view the school system as a resource for them. She would like to have a few classes offered to residents in the evenings.

“It’s their schools,” she said.

Morasch, who is employed as a housekeeper, works as one of the adult advisers to the high school Christian group.

Nabakowski, 37, has two children in Medical Lake schools and is a graduate of Medical Lake High School. He works as an attendant and counselor at Lakeland Village for the disabled.

“I think I can represent people my age with kids in school,” he said. The quality of education, he said, is one of the reasons people like Medical Lake, and he doesn’t want that to change.

In City Council races, the three candidates for four-year seats are all running unopposed.

Incumbents Howard Jorgenson and Terry Harland are each seeking four more years on the seven-member council.

Sam Julagay, appointed to fill a Position 3 vacancy earlier this summer, is seeking his first full elected term.

Jorgenson, 56, is a state motor pool manager.

Harland, 75, is a retired former real estate salesman and has served two terms on the council. He said he’s surprised no challengers have come forward this year.

“Maybe my enemies decided it’s better I get re-elected,” he joked.

Julagay, 61, is a retired Air Force serviceman and now a part-time social worker.

“I wish we had others running against us,” he noted. “You get different ideas kicking around and that keeps us from thinking we have the only right opinion.”

, DataTimes