East Valley School Board candidates vary on COVID-19 approach

Three candidates running for a seat on the East Valley School Board all want students back in class in the fall but have different positions on following guidelines about slowing the spread of COVID-19.

Justin Voelker, the incumbent, said he wants students to be back in class full-time, and that the district should follow recommendations from health agencies to keep students and staff safe.

“I would plan on taking recommendations from the relevant health agencies.” said Voelker, who is the chief financial officer at MultiCare Valley Hospital. “The key issue is to strike the right balance between the needs of the East Valley School District and the various agency recommendations.”

Current state guidelines will require students to wear masks indoors at school.

“We had good success and a limited number of infections,” Voelker said, mentioning the hybrid model in place past school year. “I’m really hoping that we’ll be able to ease the mask restrictions for students and staff alike this fall and have our students focus on learning and our teachers on teaching.”

Candidate Emelie Braxton, who serves as a member of her local school parent board, said she wants students to go full time and remove all pandemic restrictions including mask mandates.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week advised all schools – regardless of vaccination status – wear masks as new cases of the COVID-19 delta variant are on the rise.

Candidate Carolyn Petersen, who has five children attending schools in the district, said she wants as few restrictions as possible and would like to see kids return to school.

“The people that got the opportunity and wanted to get vaccinated got vaccinated. And the people who didn’t don’t want to, so it’s time to move forward,” Peterson said.

Voelker has served eight years on the board. Voelker said he hopes to continue East Valley’s strong financial position and carry on the enhancement of academic performance.

He said he hopes to keep local property taxes relatively flat just as he and the rest of the board have done the past eight years.

He offered thanks to the community passage of a transportation levy and a safety and security levy and hopes for future support.

Braxton, who is an avid volunteer throughout Spokane and has four daughters in the East Valley School District, said she understands the impacts of being involved in the community.

Besides COVID-19, she said her top issues are budget transparency and ensuring critical race theory is not taught in the district.

She said the district needs to become more transparent.

“Enrollment has been down and that affects the budget, the problem of why parents not enrolling kids in our district needs to be solved.”

East Valley School District has acknowledged the claim, adding that the district was down 359 full-time equivalent students from 2019-20 to 2020-21 compared to about 100 students anticipated from demographic changes in the district. The rest of the decline most likely was due to COVID-19, said Assistant Superintendent Karen Cloninger.

Inside the classroom, Braxton says critical race theory is being taught inside East Valley classrooms, a charge district officials say is untrue.

Critical race theory is an academic movement that examines the appearance of race and racism across U.S. history, particularly in different systems such as criminal justice system. The theory is mostly taught on the college level.

Earlier this year Washington passed a bill that made it mandatory for teachers and school board directors to dedicate a day toward learning “cultural competency, diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism.” Asked for proof that the district is teaching critical race theory, Braxton said that the words “equity” and “inclusion” are often used to cover up critical race theory.

“Critical race theory takes away from our children’s learning,” she said, adding a confirmation from the superintendent that it isn’t being taught would help clear some gray areas. “It should not be taught.”

Braxton said she supports keeping taxes relatively flat.

She described her candidacy as an “amazing opportunity” to be the voice for her local community and bring transparency into leadership.

Petersen has been involved in the district since she moved in 2017. Being a part of the Parent Teacher Organization and Trentwood Elementary’s principal hiring committee, Peterson says she enjoyed the process of communicating with teachers and being involved in her local schools.

Peterson’s candidacy started when an individual at a PTO meeting suggested she should consider running.

Involved in Booster Club, Senior All Knighters, PTO and other school activities, she believed she had the capacity to be more involved.

“I looked into it and decided this is what I want to do” Peterson said.

One of Petersen’s top goals is to update the district’s schools.

She noted that East Valley High School was built in 1960 and modernized in 1989. The middle school was built in 1968 and added on to in the 1990s.

Trentwood Elementary was built in 1962 and modernized more than 30 years ago.

Once current levies expire, Peterson said the district should pursue a levy to remodel aging schools.

“Once those are up and it’s time to again look at our district needs, I very much hope to be a part of that discussion,” she said.

Peterson also wants to make sure the district properly updates its sex education curriculum as required by the state.

Last year Washington Legislature required all Washington public schools to provide comprehensive sexual education by the 2022-23 school year with some requirements beginning in the 2020-21 school year. The mandate requires public schools to offer families the option of an age-appropriate curriculum focused on issues including human development and consent.

“Our school district has not put together their curriculum yet.” Peterson says. “I’m looking forward to being a part of the sex education curriculum process that we will implement during the 2022-23 school year.”