Candidate forum: School board hopefuls from across Spokane region talk trades, transgender athletes and more

Transgender athletes, school safety and getting back to the trades were some of the major topics Spokane-area school board candidates addressed Thursday, less than a month away from Election Day.

The Spokesman-Review’s Northwest Passages book club hosted the school board forum at North Central High School’s Thomas Armitage Theater for Performing Arts in Spokane. Education reporter Elena Perry led the candidate discussions.

Mead School Board

Two candidates with a history of blue-collar work believe career and technical education are critical for Mead youth.

“Trades need to come back,” said Martin Kolodrub, who also said safety and security at schools will be his priorities if elected.

Kolodrub’s challenger, Tim Woodworth, said he cares deeply about career and technical education and wants to help students learn those skill sets, like math, critical thinking and how to reach technical manuals, that will benefit them in the job market.

“Our kids are gonna have to face the market to provide for their future families, and I feel like that’s a great option,” Woodworth said of the trades.

Central Valley School Board District 2

Brandon Arthur or Allen Skidmore will fill the open seat left by Tere Landa, who opted not to seek re-election.

Arthur, who works in a pharmacy and owns two real estate businesses, said he’s very good at managing budgets, a key skill of a school board member.

Skidmore said he had four children go through the Central Valley School District, has spent hundreds of hours volunteering for the district and is thankful for the great teachers and administrators who helped his children.

“I’m running because I want to give back,” Skidmore said.

Skidmore said the board is concerned about “national politics” and how they look to far-right conservative voters, something he wants to see change.

“I’m afraid they’ve taken their eyes off of the ball, and the ball is the kids,” he said.

He said talks of transgender girls playing girls sports should not be an issue anymore and the problem will solve itself at the national level. He also said the district should not join other schools in a lawsuit against the state and spend thousands of dollars on legal fees “to prove how far-right conservative we are.”

The board approved joining a potential lawsuit against the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction surrounding its policies on transgender athletes.

Arthur said he doesn’t like the idea of boys playing girls sports or boys being allowed in girls bathrooms. He said he fears it’s only a matter of time until a female student in the district is hurt or harassed because of progressive policies regarding transgender students.

“We need to draw a line in the sand and have some common sense around this,” he said.

Central Valley School Board District 5

Incumbent Pam Orebaugh, a nurse educator and former nurse, said she’s built relationships during her time as a school board member, brings a “parent perspective” as a mother to children who attended Central Valley schools for years, and has an honest and respectful attitude.

Mark Bitz, a retired schoolteacher from Spokane Valley Tech, said district parents want a “peaceful, stable environment” for their children to learn. He said he has no political agenda, which he said is different from some school board members who have created tension with opinions on transgender athletes’ participation in sports.

“My job is to teach students and teach everyone the same, and make sure we’re focused on students, not politics,” he said.

The board sent letters to the federal government asking for an investigation and expressing confusion at conflicting directives from the state and federal governments. Orebaugh said the board has been caught in the middle of the conflicting directives, putting district funding it receives from each governmental entity at risk.

Bitz said the hours the school board spent on transgender athlete discussions could have been dedicated to more important, strategic board issues. Instead, the meetings created a larger division in the community and alienated students.

“Political issues do not belong on the school board,” he said.

Orebaugh said she felt disheartened to hear Bitz say the board has been “political” when it’s just a fraction of what it has discussed and accomplished. She said the board was responding to the community and girl athletes who asked for help, saying competing with transgender girls was unsafe and unfair.

Both agreed that college is not the answer for every student and emphasized the importance of career and technical education classes. Bitz said the district should make more pathways for trades available to students. Orebaugh said the district already has a great deal of CTE classes.

She said course equivalency classes are critical. For example, instead of taking a biology class, a child interested in becoming a veterinarian can take an animal science class instead. That allows students to learn skills in areas they’re passionate about.

“We have to look at what is the best for each child,” she said.

Spokane School Board

The lone two-candidate race for the Spokane Public Schools board pits incumbent Hilary Kozel against Jessica Anundson for a two-year position. Both largely agreed during their 20-minute conversation with Perry.

They support the “Together Spokane” initiative that involves the school district’s $200 million bond and the city parks department’s $240 million levy to partner for a number of projects. If voters don’t pass the tax measures, Anundson said she would support another bond, while Kozel said officials will simply have to explore options if that time comes.

But, she remained hopeful.

“When this passes, I hope the community is very proud of what they’ve done,” Kozel said.

Both candidates said Spokane high schools and elementary schools should switch school start times, with high schoolers starting later and the younger students starting earlier. The board has considered the proposal.

Kozel said it would help high schoolers get more much-needed sleep and Anundson, a working mother who drops her child off at school, said it would help parents with busy work schedules.

“I think that works better for families,” Anundson said.