The friendliest election in Eastern Washington? Candidates for Reardan-Edwall School Board offer high praise to each other

The race for a Reardan-Edwall school board seat is a friendly contest between two district parents who agree either of them would be a good fit.

Rose Krause, 45, was appointed to fill a vacancy on the board in June. Her opponent, Mark Lassman, 41, also interviewed with the board for the position.

Both said they applied last minute when it looked like no one else would put their hat in. Lassman said the board encouraged him to formally run for the position in the November election after it selected Krause to fill the remainder of the term.

“Either of us was a solid choice,” Lassman said. “Whether they picked me or her, I think Reardan won.”

“Either one of us would be great for the board,” Krause said unprompted in a separate interview. They each have a child in the same class.

The race will determine who will serve the remaining two years for school board director 5. Incumbents Simon Butterfield and Jennifer Cox are running unopposed for full four-year terms for directors 1 and 3.

Reardan-Edwall School District covers a rural area across western Spokane County and eastern Lincoln County. It serves about 740 students.

Krause is an art librarian at Eastern Washington University. She has expertise in regional history and was a special collections curator for the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. She serves on the Reardan Memorial Library Board – an appointed position – and has been involved with the public library on and off for the last 15 years.

Despite her job in higher education, however, Krause said she does not have training in public education, so she has had a lot to learn about funding and policy over the last few months.

Krause and Lassman said they chose to run not because of a particular issue, but out of a desire to serve.

Nevertheless, Krause sees funding and keeping up with growth as ongoing challenges facing the district.

“Like most public schools, there is not enough funding from the state,” Krause said. “So, how do you keep things going?”

Reardan has grown quite a bit in recent years, and the facilities have not kept up, Krause said. The middle/high school needs renovating, and many classes are meeting in portables.

“That is not a conducive environment to learning,” Krause said.

Lassman is a precision agriculture specialist for a crop insurance company, where he helps growers and agents use data to make operations more efficient. He grew up in Yakima and settled in Reardan, where his wife is from.

“I married the farmer’s daughter,” he said.

Lassman has an alias to boot. He’s known to many children as Captain Jack Sparrow of “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

Some years ago, his daughter had various medical problems that brought her to the hospital, where she was cheered up by a visiting band that played Disney songs. Lassman liked the character Jack Sparrow, so he grew a beard and put an outfit together. He works with nonprofits around Spokane and often appears in character at Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital.

“It’s a hard time,” Lassman said. “If I can make a kid smile, I can let their parents see there is more to the hospital than just tubes and needles, and that their kid can have wonder and magic despite everything that they’re going through.”

He said he can bring a different perspective to the board, and can help people with opposing views find common ground. Like Krause, he isn’t running on a particular issue, but just wants to help the students of the district.

“It’s a friendly thing; I wouldn’t even call it a competition,” Lassman said. “Both of us have the kids’ best interest at heart, and we both stepped up to make sure that the need in the community was met.”