Mead School Board candidates agree on a lot, but one says district should follow state law

The race to claim an open seat on Mead School Board boils down to a conservative district father and a more moderate long-time district volunteer.

After sitting board member Chad Burchard decided a decade on the board was enough for him and declined to run for another four years, Tim Woodworth and Martin Kolodrub tossed their hats in the ring to vie for a spot on the board.

Woodworth, who has worked in aerospace for 24 years advancing from a machinist to now a manager, said he was compelled to run in the interest of the education of his kids, who all attended Mead schools, one currently enrolled. He said working in manufacturing gives him a fresh perspective on education with an eye for what tech employers are looking for in the emerging young workforce.

“Being aware of what companies, like manufacturing businesses, are looking for and interviewing for, I think would be helpful,” he said in a recent interview. “I think I bring something different to the school board than they currently have just coming from manufacturing. I am very interested in the career technical education that Mead provides and being a voice for that.”

Kolodrub is also an advocate for more career and technical education, or CTE, programs in Mead. He’s long been involved with the school district that both his kids graduated from, first in his previous role working with truant students in Spokane County Juvenile Court. That job brought his 15-year participation and leading a handful of district citizen advisory committees surrounding levies and bonds and school safety, all priorities in his campaign to work with schools in a new way.

“I’ve lived here most of my life and realized that the one neutralizer we have is education, meaning that if you can find a school, fit into the school, be loved by the school, then you’ll be able to be successful,” he said in a recent interview. “It’s basically the nucleus of the community, is education.”

Both candidates listed priorities including transparency, fiscal responsibility, school safety and boosting nontraditional education pathways for students.

School safety and security

Still involved with the district’s safety and security committee, Kolodrub positions school safety among his highest priorities for office. If elected, he said he would advocate for the hiring of a designated safety director and an additional school resource officer to be funded through a levy. His committee on safety recently recommended the district purchase a new digital camera and radio system for school administrators. He advocated for further investments like a system that can track when a student boards their school bus, for example.

“School safety just doesn’t mean law enforcement; it means mental health, having the correct systems to notify people, control of the doors,” Kolodrub said. “Like I said, you need to have the right people, the right policy and the right equipment.”

School safety is also a concern of Woodworth’s. He said if elected, he would look more into what systems are in place and how they could be improved, particularly addressing the potential for a school shooting.

Mead contracts with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, which supplies two school resource deputies for campus security.

“I’m an advocate of adding more, working more with the sheriff’s department,” Woodworth said. “As a parent, what we hear in the world is happening – that needs to be a main focus.”

Option programs

Each of Woodworth’s kids received some kind of nontraditional education at Mead; one of his daughters received special education, another pursued her associate degree while in high school, and his son enrolled in the district’s online option program.

A witness to both the success of his own kids in nontraditional settings and his own penchant for CTE through his work, Woodworth said he favors expanding option programs so students can earn credit how they see fit. While campaigning, he’s heard from families interested in alternative schooling, but find a waitlist for the district’s current offerings.

“I love the idea of students being able to drive their high school or education as they get older, and it just provides so many opportunities if the classroom isn’t the best fit for them,” he said.

Kolodrub, who also is employed in construction, said more pathways to graduation would be a “huge push” for him on the school board, also employed in construction. He referenced option programs Mead has since closed, like project-based STEM Riverpoint Academy and Mead Alternative High School, both shuttered in 2019 in a wave of district budget cuts. He proposed some sort of resuscitation of Riverpoint Academy with a modern technological focus.

“It doesn’t have to be like that; it just has to be a nontraditional path for maybe your kids that learn with their hands, kids that want to pour concrete, those kinds of things,” Kolodrub said.

Transgender sports

participation

Perhaps the starkest line to be drawn between Woodworth and Kolodrub is their stance on social issues, like how involved the board should be in the ongoing debate about transgender athletes’ sports participation.

The Mead School Board has been the most outspoken in the region in its alignment with the federal government in seeking to limit girls’ sports to those assigned female at birth. State law allows trans kids to play on teams that match their gender identity. While the board follows state law in this area, they’ve sent letters to the federal government, joined a lawsuit against the state and passed resolutions expressing their stance that trans girls should not play on girls sports teams.

Woodworth agrees with the current board’s actions, though it’s not a “primary” issue for him, he said, preferring to focus on academics and opportunity over “cultural issues.”

“Having two daughters and wanting them to have every opportunity to be successful, I’m definitely a fan of that, and I would have a hard time with biological boys being in girls sports,” he said.

Kolodrub said if elected, he would follow state law that prevents exclusion of trans kids in sports rather than attempt to follow the federal government’s directives thus putting state funding at risk.

“We’re here to follow the rules of Washington state. I’ll be blue in the face saying that, because that’s the reality,” Kolodrub said. “Now, people have their own views. I have my own views on stuff. This is what the law currently says, and our job is to follow the rules.”

Property taxes through levies and bonds

A leader in committees surrounding previous tax asks in the district, Kolodrub said he is “100% yes” on asking voters for property tax collections through levies and bonds, though he cautioned if elected he would be frugal with what the board asks for and transparent about what it’s spent on.

“I’m going to inspect what I expect,” he said.

Similarly, Woodworth said he’s in favor of property tax asks as long as he knows and agrees with where the money is going.

“I’m OK with it, as long as it actually goes to increasing opportunities for the teachers of the schools; so little of the budget goes towards those things,” he said.

Endorsements

Departing school board member of 10 years Burchard said in a recent interview he endorsed Kolodrub as his successor; the two know each other from Kolodrub’s work adjacent to the school district on bond, levy and safety committees.

“He has good ears on what’s going on in the school district,” Burchard said. “I think he’ll represent all of the students and patrons in the school district, and I think he’ll be a neutral voice that looks at both sides of the issues.”

He advised whoever receives the baton to avoid partisanship as the Mead School Board members have grown increasingly outspoken in their conservatism in recent years.

Woodworth has the endorsement of board Vice President BrieAnne Gray and President Michael Cannon, who said Woodworth is a “good thinker” and a leader in his career, two aspects that make an effective school board member, Cannon said.

“In a reasonable and level-headed way, he’s aligned with the actions that the board has been taking this year in terms of parents’ rights and protecting women’s sports, although he hasn’t been a loud advocate in these areas,” Cannon said.

No other board members responded to requests for comment.

Woodworth has the endorsement of the Spokane County Republican Party.