Cheney School Board race features two district moms

When voters in the Cheney School District submitted their ballots a year ago, they signed off on a bond proposal that will shape their district for decades to come. The $72 million plan calls for a new elementary school in Airway Heights, which will help reduce overcrowding at Sunset Elementary and fund other infrastructure upgrades throughout the district.

Now, as they return to the polls a year later, residents will decide who they want to represent them on the school board. For one seat, District 2, voters will decide between two moms with children in the district who say they want to expand students’ access to the courses that best fit them.

First appointed to the school board in June 2023, incumbent Elizabeth Winer was later elected to serve in November of that year. She faces Jessica Davis, the co-owner of Wolffy’s Breakfast Burgers and Brew.

After a little more than two years on the board, Winer said she’s “learned a lot about what a school board does and what school boards can do to advocate for students at the state level.”

Now, as she gears up for her re-election bid, Winer said she’s focused on “increasing a sense of belonging for our students,” particularly between the communities of Cheney, Airway Heights and the West Plains.

“And I feel like there’s not the unity that there could be,” Winer said. “And research has shown that when students have that sense of belonging, they are much more likely to engage, and therefore achieve more in their personal academic pursuits.”

To accomplish this, Winer said she wants to expand Career and Technical Education courses in the district, something she said she’s seen the benefits of firsthand in her teaching career.

“I know that students don’t all learn the same way and each student has different needs, and we need to try to meet those needs as best as we can to serve each student the way they deserve,” Winer said.

Over the past two years, Winer has served as the board’s legislative representative, which she said has given her insight into the Legislature and how districts are funded. During the recent session, Winer said she worked with other board members to increase funding for materials, supplies and operating costs, funds commonly known as MSOC, as well as funding for special education.

“And while we didn’t get everything that we had hoped, we did see some improvement there,” Winer said.

Another common theme of the recent legislative session was parental rights, and discussions around which materials parents are entitled to receive and the time frame for how quickly districts must provide them. Winer said that “communication is key” to ensure a strong bond between parents and the district, and that the district should use a variety of channels to reach families.

“I think just being open and transparent about what we’re doing here in the district, and being able to be contacted and hear concerns, and listen to our families, and learn from them, and through trial and error, we will find the best way to communicate,” Winer said.

A teacher herself, Winer said her work allows her to experience the demands of meeting standards and help to improve student growth. Her work has given her the opportunity to provide feedback on state testing and attend conferences on how artificial intelligence will impact education in the future.

“I also know what our students are experiencing, and know the challenges of being a student right now,” Winer said. “I really want to make sure that Cheney is doing what it needs to do to ensure that students are feeling safe, feeling welcome and having a place where they connect and develop. Not only academically, but socially, emotionally and becoming productive citizens post-high school.”

Winer’s candidacy has been endorsed by the Cheney Education Association and the Public School Employees of Cheney, which represents teachers and classified staff in the district, respectively.

“I’m very proud of those endorsements because it means so much to have the support of the people who are working in our schools with our students,” Winer said.

A first-time candidate, Davis co-owns Wolffy’s Breakfast Burgers and Brew in Airway Heights with her husband, Dustin. Davis has also served as a volunteer firefighter for the City of Airway Heights for approximately a year and a half.

If elected, Davis said she’s focused on supporting parents and students in the district, “and being a good steward to our community.”

“And bringing the values that people bring to me to a higher level at the school board,” Davis said. “And being able to voice the community’s concerns.”

Davis said she began considering whether to toss her hat in the ring after she was contacted by school resource officers in the district about the idea of running for the seat.

With five kids in the district, Davis said the decision ultimately came down to a feeling she would be “doing a disservice to them if I didn’t put myself in the race.”

If elected, Davis said she wants to expand offerings for high-achieving students in the district, something she struggled to find for her son. Coming from the Mead School District, which Davis said “has a lot of programs for advancement,” she struggled to find a place that fit his abilities, particularly in math.

“I got a lot of weird answers, that the school district doesn’t advance kids that far, and my question was ‘why?’ ” Davis said. “Why are we not taking these kids who are capable and ready and giving them the resources to be able to excel and push their education a little bit further?”

Davis’ goal, she said, is “elevating these students and giving them the opportunities to grow” in their coursework. To do so, Davis said the district could float students in the elementary school to different classrooms for portions of the day, something she said has worked in other school districts her children attended.

A larger challenge comes in at the middle school level, where students might be ready for a high -school-level course, but there might not be a teacher on campus who teaches it. The district accommodated Davis by transporting her son to the high school for a class, and then returning him to the middle school for the remainder of the day.

“It wasn’t necessarily moving him free into that world of high school before he was ready, but giving him access to a teacher in person, which I think makes a world of difference versus doing an online program,” Davis said.

Talking to other parents in the district, Davis said she has also frequently heard concerns over transparency from the district and “being able to feel heard.”

Davis said she wants the district to take a more proactive approach when discussing changes to the school curriculum and new rules around disclosure requirements as they come from the state Capitol.

“I’ve seen in policies and curriculum, when those things are coming through, the parents are finding out about them once they’re already in place. It doesn’t get to be a conversation, or for parents to show up to a school board meeting to discuss before those things are already in place and enacted,” Davis said.

Davis is endorsed by the Spokane County GOP.