Eric Olsen

A candidate for Nine Mile Falls School Board, position 2, Nine Mile Falls School District in the 2019 Washington General Election, Nov. 5

Age: 55

City: Nine Mile Falls, WA

Education: North Central High School class of 1986. Earned an associate degree from Spokane Community College in 1989 and completed one year of undergraduate work in chemical engineering at Eastern Washington University. He is working to finish his bachelor’s degree.

Political experience: None.

Work experience: Major with the Spokane Police Department. He has 29 years of experience in the department. He started as a patrol officer and has been a part of the tactical team, bomb squad and K-9 unit.

Family: He is married and has two daughters who attend schools in the district.

His pitch: Olsen has many years of police experience and said he would prioritize school safety as a part of the school board. He is trained in active shooter response and wants to increase the amount of preparedness at Nine Mile Falls schools. He also wants to increase the safety of the high school through crime prevention through environmental design principles without adding measures like metal detectors and access cards. Olsen would look to form a school safety committee comprised of staff, first responders and parents to study the safety of each school and make recommendations to leadership.

In his words: “I want to create that safe, secure environment, so our students aren’t concerned about school shootings, or other types of school violence, and are able to focus on learning and growing up like kids should.”